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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Art of Ballet - - -Author: Mark Edward Perugini - - - -Release Date: October 25, 2020 [eBook #63550] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF BALLET*** - - -E-text prepared by deaurider, Susan Carr, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made -available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 63550-h.htm or 63550-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/63550/63550-h/63550-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/63550/63550-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/artofballet00peru - - - - - -THE ART OF BALLET - - -[Illustration: _Adolph Bolm in “Carnival.”_ - -_from a photograph by E. O. Hoppé_] - - -THE ART OF BALLET - -by - -MARK E. PERUGINI - - - - - - -London: Martin Secker -Number Five John Street Adelphi - -First published 1915 - - - - - TO - MY WIFE - - - - - PREFACE - - -Some may possibly wonder to find here no record of Ballet in Italy, -or at the Opera Houses of Madrid, Lisbon, Vienna, Buda-Pest, -Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Warsaw, or Petrograd (formerly St. -Petersburg), not to speak of the United States and South America. -This, however, would be to miss somewhat the author’s purpose, which -is not to trace the growth of Ballet in every capital where it has -been seen. To do so effectively were hardly possible in a single -volume. A whole book might well be devoted to the history of the art -in Italy alone, herein only touched upon as it came to have vital -influence on France and England in the nineteenth century. We have -already had numerous volumes dealing with Russian Ballet; and since -the ground has been extensively enough surveyed in that direction -there could be no particular advantage in devoting more space to -the subject than is already given to it in this work, the purpose -of which only is to present--as far as possible from contemporary -sources--some leading phases of the history of the modern Art of -Ballet as seen more particularly in France and England. - -A brief series of biographical essays “Cameos of the Dance,” by the -same writer, was published in _The Whitehall Review_ in 1909; various -articles on the subject also being contributed to _The Evening News_, -_Lady’s Pictorial_, _Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News_, _Pall -Mall Gazette_ and other London journals during 1910 and 1911; and -a series of “Sketches of the Dance and Ballet,” coming from the -same hand, appeared in _The Dancing Times_, 1912, 1913 and 1914. -They were based on portions of the manuscript of the present work -which, begun some years ago by way of pastime, and written during -the scant leisure of a crowded business life, was completed at the -publisher’s request, and was--save for a few brief insertions in the -proofs--ready, and announced for publication before the Great War -began in August 1914. - -The preparation of this book has involved the marshalling of a -vast array of facts and dates, the delving into and comparison of -some three hundred or more ancient and modern volumes on dancing -and on theatrical and operatic history, the study of scores of old -newspaper-files and long-forgotten theatrical “repositories” and -souvenirs. Error is always possible in spite of care, and if it -should have happened here the writer will be grateful for correction. -In covering so wide a field a full bibliography becomes impossible -from limits of space; but to those interested the following list -of leading authorities--supplemented by those referred to in the -text--may be of service. “La Danse Grecque Antique,” by M. Emmanuel; -“Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire,” by L. Friedländer; -“Dramatic Traditions of the Dark Ages,” by Joseph S. Tunison -(University of Chicago Press); “Orchésographie,” by Thoinot Arbeau -(1588); “Des Ballets Anciens et Modernes,” by Père Menestrier (1682); -“La Danse Antique et Moderne,” by De Cahuzac (1754); “The Code of -Terpsichore,” by Carlo Blasis (1823); “Dictionnaire de la Danse,” -by G. Desrat (1895); “Dancing in all Ages,” by Edward Scott (1899); -“Histoire de la Danse,” by F. de Menil (1905); and “The Dance: Its -Place in Art and Life,” by T. and M. W. Kinney (1914). - - - - - CONTENTS - - - _BOOK I. THE FIRST ERA_ - - CHAPTER PAGE - - OVERTURE: ON THE ART OF BALLET 15 - - I. A DISTINCTION, AND SOME DIFFERENCES 21 - - II. EGYPT 25 - - III. GREECE 32 - - IV. MIME AND PANTOMIME: ROME, HIPPODROME--OBSCURITY 41 - - V. CHURCH THUNDER AND CHURCH COMPLAISANCE 47 - - VI. A BANQUET-BALL OF 1489: AND THE BALLET COMIQUE - DE LA REINE, 1581 53 - - VII. THOINOT ARBEAU’s “ORCHÉSOGRAPHIE,” 1588 61 - - VIII. SCENIC EFFECT: THE ENGLISH MASQUE AS BALLET, - 1585-1609 71 - - IX. BALLET ON THE MOVE 83 - - X. COURT BALLETS ABROAD: 1609-1650 88 - - XI. THE TURNING POINT: “LE ROI SOLEIL AND HIS - ACADEMY OF DANCING,” 1651-1675 99 - - - _BOOK II. THE SECOND ERA_ - - XII. SOME EARLY STARS AND BALLETS 109 - - XIII. “PANTOMIME” AT SCEAUX, AND MLLE. PRÉVÔT 113 - - XIV. ITALIAN COMEDY, AND THE “THEATRES OF THE FAIR” 119 - - XV. WATTEAU’S DEBT TO THE STAGE 130 - - XVI. “THE SPECTATOR” AND MR. WEAVER 142 - - XVII. A FRENCH DANCER IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON 149 - - XVIII. LA BELLE CAMARGO, 1710-1770 156 - - XIX. “THE HOUSE OF VESTRIS” 163 - - XX. JEAN GEORGES NOVERRE 171 - - XXI. GUIMARD THE GRAND 179 - - XXII. DESPRÉAUX, POET, “MAÎTRE,” AND “HUSBAND OF - GUIMARD” 195 - - XXIII. A CENTURY’S CLOSE 201 - - - _BOOK III. THE MODERN ERA_ - - XXIV. THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY 207 - - XXV. CARLO BLASIS, A LEADER OF THE MODERN SCHOOL 213 - - XXVI. THE “PAS DE QUATRE”: I. MARIE TAGLIONI. - (“SYLPHIDE”) 223 - - XXVII. THE “PAS DE QUATRE” II. CARLOTTA GRISI. - (“GISELLE”) 235 - - XXVIII. THE “PAS DE QUATRE”: III. FANNY CERITO. - (“ONDINE”) 240 - - XXIX. THE “PAS DE QUATRE”: IV. LUCILE GRAHN. - (“EOLINE”) 244 - - XXX. THE DECLINE AND REVIVAL 249 - - XXXI. THE ALHAMBRA 1854 TO 1903 252 - - XXXII. THE ALHAMBRA 1904 TO 1913 269 - - XXXIII. THE EMPIRE THEATRE 1884 TO 1906 276 - - XXXIV. THE EMPIRE THEATRE 1907 TO 1914 294 - - XXXV. FINALE, THE RUSSIANS AND--THE FUTURE 309 - - - INDEX 327 - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - ADOLF BOLM IN “CARNIVAL” _Frontispiece_ - _From a photograph_ - - AN EGYPTIAN MALE DANCER _Facing page_ 30 - _From a Theban fresco_ - - EGYPTIAN DANCING GIRLS ” 30 - _From a mural painting in the British Museum_ - - A GREEK FUNERAL DANCE ” 30 - _From a coloured plaque in the Louvre_ - - STAGE EFFECT IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY ” 56 - _A scene from, the “Ballet Comique de la Royne,” - by Baltasar de Beaujoyeux, 1581_ - - STAGE EFFECT IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ” 88 - _From a coloured engraving of a scene from - “Circe,” 1694_ - - THE DUCHESSE DU MAINE ” 114 - - THE DEPARTURE OF THE ITALIAN COMEDIANS, 1697 ” 128 - _From an engraving by L. Jacob of Watteau’s picture_ - - PIERROT AND ARLEQUIN, IN THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ” 128 - _From Riccoboni’s “Histoire du Théâtre Italien”_ - - L’AMOUR AU THÉÂTRE ITALIEN ” 132 - _From the Julienne engravings from Watteau, British - Museum_ - - L’AMOUR AU THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS ” 132 - _From the Julienne engravings from Watteau, British - Museum_ - - LE CONCERT ” 136 - _From the painting by Watteau, Wallace Collection_ - - LA LEÇON DE MUSIQUE ” 136 - _From the painting by Watteau, Wallace Collection_ - - LES PLAISIRS DU BAL ” 138 - _From the Julienne engravings from Watteau, British - Museum_ - - MLLE. DESMARES EN HABIT DE PÈLERINE ” 140 - _From the Julienne engravings from Watteau, British - Museum_ - - L’EMBARQUEMENT POUR L’ILE DE CYTHÈRE ” 140 - _From a photograph by E. Alinari of Watteau’s - painting in the Louvre_ - - MARIE SALLÉ ” 150 - _From an engraving by Petit, after a picture by - Fenouil_ - - M. BALLON AND MLLE. PRÉVÔT ” 160 - _From an old print_ - - CAMARGO ” 160 - _From the painting by Lancret in the Wallace - Collection_ - - GAETAN VESTRIS ” 166 - _From an old print_ - - JEAN GEORGES NOVERRE ” 174 - _From an old engraving_ - - MADELEINE GUIMARD ” 192 - _From the painting by Fragonard_ - - FANNY ELSSLER ” 210 - _From an old engraving_ - - CARLOTTA GRISI ” 210 - _From a coloured lithograph_ - - CARLO BLASIS ” 218 - _From a lithograph_ - - MARIE TAGLIONI ” 228 - _From a lithograph dated 1833_ - - THE PAS DE QUATRE OF 1845 ” 228 - - FANNY CERITO AND ST. LEON ” 242 - - LUCILLE GRAHN AND PERROT ” 242 - - MLLE. PALLADINO IN “NINA” AT THE ALHAMBRA ” 266 - _From a photograph_ - - MLLE. BRITTA ” 266 - _From a photograph_ - - MME. GUERRERO ” 274 - _From a photograph_ - - MLLE. LEONORA ” 274 - _From a photograph_ - - MLLE. ADELINE GÉNÉE ” 292 - _From a photograph_ - - MME. LYDIA KYASHT ” 304 - _From a photograph_ - - MISS PHYLLIS BEDELLS ” 304 - _From a photograph_ - - MISS ISADORA DUNCAN ” 314 - _From a photograph_ - - MME. KARSAVINA AND M. ADOLF BOLM IN “L’OISEAU DE FEU” ” 322 - _From a photograph_ - - - - - BOOK I: THE FIRST ERA - - - - - THE ART OF BALLET - - - - - OVERTURE - - ON THE ART OF BALLET - - -There may be some who could not agree that Ballet _is_ an “art,” -or even that it has, or ever had, any special charm or historic -interest. The charm--as in the case of any other art--will probably -always remain rather a matter of individual opinion; the historic -interest is merely a matter of fact. - -No man can hope for agreement with his fellows in all things. The -world were flat if it could be so. He may hector, and not convince; -he may cajole and not convert; he may tell the simple truth in simple -speech and still be misunderstood. So many of his partners in the -dance of life speak in different tongues; or, speaking the same, use -words and phrases more familiar to them than to himself. - -In going to a foreign land we change our currency; but it is hardly -to be accounted spurious because it is not as ours. There may be -something to be said for the variety; and, also, there may be some -common basis of value which can be accepted readily by both. A -world-currency has not yet arrived. In opinion it is much the same. - -But the sense of “fair play” is so admirable, and so truly British -a characteristic, that one may usually rely on it for a considerate -hearing. Possible dissentients may be the more inclined to grant -this if they are informed at the outset that this book has no -specially persuasive purpose, and that I am content that it should be -mainly accounted a record of fact. - -One of the facts which it chronicles is that Ballet, whether an -“art” or not, has existed, in some form or another, for about two -thousand years. An interest which can show so long a record may yet -not be of such surpassing importance, let us say, as Statecraft or -Religion; but one which has thus long and widely appealed to the -æsthetic sense of mankind can hardly be considered worthless. It -were a vast and complex matter to decide the relative values of the -various “arts,” and, certainly this book is no endeavour to pronounce -thereon, nor to persuade any that Ballet is the greatest, though it -is unquestionably one of the oldest of the arts. But it will suffice -to offer the opinion that, whether it has reached its highest level -or not as yet Ballet _is_ an art in itself; one that in the past has -had so many judicious and sympathetic exponents, and has so long a -record of existence, that there is really some justification for the -expenditure of casual leisure by any who cares to play the chronicler -or to read such chronicle. - -This much said, before setting out to travel the road of the past, -let us for a moment reconsider another fact, namely, that we have in -London two theatres where for about a quarter of a century Ballet -_was_ the main attraction. The fact is unique in the annals of the -British stage. - -Ballets have been produced elsewhere occasionally. We have seen -operas, pantomimes, burlesques, of which they formed a part. At -earlier periods--as in the ’forties of last century--they have also -been seen as separate items in the programme of an operatic season; -and there has been a quite remarkable revival of interest during the -past few years. But in all the history of the stage there was never -before a time when it could be said that for such a period not one -but two theatrical houses in London _continuously_ offered this kind -of entertainment as their chief attraction. - -It has to be remembered that this sustained existence of Ballet in -England has been, as in the case of all “legitimate drama,” without -State aid such as it has received in Milan, Rome, Naples, Paris, -Vienna, Petrograd, Copenhagen, and elsewhere on the Continent, where -the physical advantages of dancing and the artistic value of Ballet -are fully appreciated. The arts must flourish haphazard here! We have -no national conservatoire in which this art of Ballet is taught as it -is abroad. Consequently it has been less generally understood; and, -being so, has had to exist in face of considerable prejudice. - -Some critics profess to despise it because it ignores the spoken -word. Some have decried it because of the presence of dancing. Some -will not admit that it is worthy to be called an art at all, and -there are possibly still some primly primitive people who pretend to -view with moral pain the existence of any such entertainment. They -may patronise a theatre or tolerate an actor or actress--but a Ballet -or a Ballet-Dancer! - -The misunderstanding of the aims and possibilities of the Art of -Ballet, as seen at its best, is to be regretted. - -Not for such critics are the music of moving lines, the modulating -harmonies of colour, the subtleties of mimic expression, nor all the -wealth of historic associations and romantic charm which a knowledge -of its past recalls. - -Austere critics would do well, when deprecating Ballet, to remember -that many others have found it, as Colley Cibber regretfully admitted -it was found in his time: “a pleasing and rational entertainment.” - -That it is “pleasing” many know from witnessing some of the best -of modern examples. As to whether it can be considered “rational” -depends so much on the kind of meaning that may be given to that -word. All rational people speak in prose; constantly to speak in -verse might be considered quite irrational. But are we to banish -poetry from the world because it is not the common form of speech? - -Some people might find it quite irrational to sit in a theatre and -laugh or weep at the imaginary joys or woes of imaginary characters -impersonated by people who are not seriously concerned therewith, and -with whom, personally, we are not at all concerned. - -It might be well considered irrational to be moved by any “concord of -sweet sounds,” at least in the shape of “opera”; or to be enspelled -by the charm of a statue or a painting, or by the wizardry of any -form of art; for once it is questioned whether it be “rational,” -there need be no end to dispute; and one remembers how poor Tolstoy -fared in essaying to decide: “What is Art?” - -That of Ballet surely is no less rational than Poetry, than Drama, -than Music, Sculpture, Painting--all of which exist by _their_ -conventions, all of which in principle it employs; to all of which it -is akin. It is not less an art; and when looking at a modern ballet -we can hardly fail to consider the long train of reasoned thought and -of artistic tradition that lie beyond the entertainment that we see -to-day. - -What is it that we see? An orchestra of dancers who are also mimes, -who represent--one should rather say, realise--the imaginative -creations of an author, or a number of authors working harmoniously -together, in terms of rhythmic movement and dramatic expression, with -the aid also of colour and music and sound. - -Every one of these dancers has had to undergo a special and arduous -training, the traditions of which reach back through centuries till -lost in time’s obscurity. - -Each has an allotted place at any given moment in the general scheme. -Every grouping and dispersal of a group--like the formation and -modulation of chords in music--is part of an ordered plan. - -Every step of every dancer, every gesture, every phrase of music, is -composed or selected to express particular ideas or series of ideas; -every colour and each change of tone in the whole symphony of hues -has been appraised. Not a thing that happens is haphazard. - -It is probably by reason of the number of people that must be -employed, and the labour entailed before a successful result can be -achieved, and on account of the difficulties and risks attendant -on its production, that we have had so few theatres devoted to an -art so thoroughly appreciated abroad, not only as one of ancient -institution, but as one that still offers wide scope for the creative -genius of poet, artist and musician, apart from the interpretative -abilities of dancer and of mime. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -A DISTINCTION, AND SOME DIFFERENCES - - -The chief elements of Ballet as seen to-day are--dancing, miming, -music and scenic effect, including of course in this last the -costumes and colour-schemes, as well as the actual “scenery” and -lighting. - -It is in the proper harmonising of these elements that the true -art of Ballet-composition, or, as it is called, “choreography,” -consists. Each has its individual history, and all have been combined -in varying proportions at various periods. But it is only in the -past hundred and fifty years or so that they have been harmoniously -blended in the increasing richness of their development to give us -this separate, protean and beautiful art--the Ballet of the Theatre. - -These four elements are the material of which Ballet is composed, and -the result may be judged by their balance. - -We are to think not of the worst examples that have been, but of the -best, and of those that yet might be. - -Most of the older writers on dancing speak of almost all concerted -dances as ballets and refer to the “ballets” of the Egyptians, the -Greeks and the Romans. The Abbé Menestrier, however, writing in the -seventeenth century, wisely observed the distinction between dances -that are _only_ “dances,” and those that approximate to “ballet.” - -It should be borne in mind that it is possible to dance and not -represent an idea save that of dancing, as when a child dances for -joy, _not in order to represent the joy of another_. That is the -province of the Mime. It is equally possible to mimic without dancing. - -The best ballet-dancer is one who has intelligence and training to do -both, whose dancing and mimicry are interpretative. - -Speaking of certain Egyptian and Greek figure-dances and the approach -of some of them to the Ballet as he knew it towards the end of the -seventeenth century, Menestrier wrote: “_J’appelle ces Danses Ballets -parce qu’elles n’etoient pas de simples Danses comme les autres, -mais des Representations ingenieuses, des mouvements du Ciel et des -Planétes, et des evolutions du labyrinthe dont Thésée sortit_.” -That is a distinction to be remembered by any who may look on the Art -of Ballet as simply--dancing. - -It is necessary to-day to make another distinction, that between -“ballet,” and “the ballet of the theatre.” In a sense the Hindus, -the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, indeed all peoples in past -ages have had ballets; that is, dances which were “_representations -ingenieuses_,” which represented an idea or told a story. - -There have been entertainments, too, of which dancing formed -a considerable part--such as our English “masques,” which, -contemporaneously, were often spoken of as “ballets.” - -But though they may for convenience have been so called, they were -never more than partly akin with the ballet of the theatre as we -see it to-day. They never exhibited that balance of subordinated -and _developed_ arts which the best examples of later times have -shown; and were not seen in the public theatre, as a form of dramatic -entertainment apart from others. - -One has only to consider for an instant what were the musical and -scenic resources of the Greek and Roman stage, and compare them with -the resources of modern orchestration and scenic effect to realise -the difference between antique “ballet” and that of to-day. - -Setting aside this difference, which arises from the development of -the several elements through the centuries, one may find many an -ancient definition of “ballet” that appears apt enough to-day, for -the difference is not so much one of principle as this of resources. - -Athenæus, a second-century Greek critic, declared: “Ballet is an -imitation of things said and sung,” and Lucian, that--“It is by the -gesture, movements and cadences that this imitation or representation -is made up, as the song is made up by the inflections of the voice.” -This is a happy illustration. Inflections might well be described as -“gestures” _of the voice_. - -Menestrier (who, besides writing an exceedingly entertaining history -of Ballet, also wrote extensively on Heraldry, and was author -of several solid historical works as well as numerous poems and -_libretti_) has said: “Ballet is an imitation like the other arts, -and that much has in common with them. The difference is, that while -the other arts only imitate certain things, as painting, which -expresses the shape, colour, arrangement and disposition of things, -Ballet expresses the _movement_ which Painting and Sculpture could -not express, and by these movements can represent the nature of -things, and those characteristics of the soul which only can find -expression by such movements. This imitation is achieved by the -movements of the body, which are the interpreters of the passions -and of the inmost feelings. And even as the body has various -parts composing a whole and making a beautiful harmony, one uses -instruments and their accord, to regulate those movements which -express the effect of the passions of the soul.” - -These definitions have decided value, but hardly quite meet the case -of modern Ballet. - -Noverre, Blasis, Gardel, and other of the older _maîtres de ballet_, -have told us in several charming books, essays, letters, dialogues -and _libretti_, much as to what Ballet can and should be, but yet -leave something to seek in the matter of brief yet comprehensive -definition. - -It is with some hesitancy, therefore, that I venture, before talking -of its history, to suggest as a simple definition that: “a ballet -is _a series of solo and concerted dances with mimetic actions, -accompanied by music and scenic accessories, telling a story_.” - -It is by reason of this definition that I propose to pass somewhat -lightly over the early dawn of Ballet, or rather of its earliest -elements, the dance and miming; and that I propose to deal more fully -with the period _after_ the advent of Louis Quatorze--in France and -in England--which saw the development of the _Ballet du Théâtre_. - -There have, of course, been modern ballets that did not tell a story. -But the true Ballet of the theatre should. - -Such have been the best of those of Noverre, of Blasis, of Perrot, -Nuittier, Théophile Gautier, and of later composers of ballet like -Taglioni, Manzotti, Coppi, Mme. Lanner, Wilhelm, Curti, Fokine, and, -indeed, all the best ballets of later years; and such will the best -always be. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -EGYPT - - -The origin of the drama is hardly to be reckoned among the historic -mysteries. By serious triflers debate might be held as to what should -be considered the first dramatic representation and when it actually -took place. - -Some five centuries before the Christian era the first plays of -which scholarship has taken note were performed at Athens, those -of Thespis, forerunner of the first great dramatists of the -world--Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. - -For convenience the origin of Western drama may be dated from Thespis -because it seems first to have assumed then a definite form. That is -not its actual origin any more than the origin of any human being is -to be dated from its birth. As a possibility it may be said to have -existed always. Even Chronology has its limitations, and preceding -any given event there must have existed principles or tendencies. - -When it is said, therefore, that the origin of the Drama is not an -historic mystery it is because we are not very much in the dark as -to when it began to assume a somewhat definite form; and, moreover, -we can be fairly clear as to what must have preceded it. There seems -rather more than a probability that the Drama derived its existence -from the Poet, in his capacity as a Narrator. - -For some hundreds of years the Drama has been chiefly a -representation of character and events, whether real or fictitious. -In its earliest forms it was mainly descriptive. It would seem to be -the natural order of things that from mere description there should -arise in time--possibly from a half-conscious feeling of the need -of _emphasis_, of a desire to _impress_ the hearers--the attempt -to _illustrate_ or to _represent_ the scenes or actions described. -The mere repetition of any story seems to tend towards that. Have -we not observed that no “fish” story is ever quite complete--if not -convincing--without histrionic illustrations? - -Though in India and China, with their more ancient civilisation, the -chronologic origin of the Drama might be more remotely placed, it is -probable that in the Homeric bard and the Homeric audience, should -be sought the true beginning of the Western theatre; while, all the -world over, the evolution of the dramatic form has probably been much -the same--namely, a gradual transition from poetic _narration_ to -imitative representation. Thus at the back of the Drama is probably -the Poet. Beside the Poet, too, is often the Priest. - -Greek tragedy is usually said to have had a purely “religious” -origin, and certainly it was from early times employed for the -purposes of, or in the service of, Religion; but it would, one -feels, be rather truer to presume its actual origin to be purely -secular, and to be found in the Poet making his appeal to an ordinary -audience, in a word, to the People, while sometimes under the -patronage of priestly and ruling classes. - -When, however, we come to consider the origin of the Dance--first and -most important of the “four elements” of Ballet--we are forced to -the conclusion that, even though we are on more uncertain ground, it -must, nevertheless, be far older than the Drama. Why this should be -so, even though we have no approximate date to go upon as in the case -of the Thespian theatre, is not difficult to see. - -The Drama evolved from, and has always depended on, the faculty of -speech, and on the growth of a language. A copious vocabulary and -flexibility of verbal expression are not exactly characteristics of -the primitive races; and, without both, the Drama, as we have known -it for some centuries, could not have existed. - -But the Dance (with mimicry, which has always followed close upon its -heels) has no need of words, and is itself a kind of speech, in which -the whole body is used as a means of expression. - -We are none of us old enough to remember, and there is consequently -no need to be dogmatic and assert that the Dance actually _did_ -precede speech; but it is far from improbable that it could -have done; and while one shudders to think of the ardent _danse -tourbillon_ our Mother Earth must have danced from the moment of her -birth, it is perhaps more amusing--and yet not wholly frivolous--to -contemplate a possible origin of the Dance in the sport some Simian -ancestors may have found in rhythmically swaying on the flexile -branches of some primeval tree, before they had acquired a vocabulary -sufficiently copious for the analysis of their sensations. - -Seriously, however, and just because it has a rhythmic basis, dancing -in some form is among the earliest instincts of mankind, even as it -is of children. In all climes, at all periods, men and women have -danced; and its origin is lost in the mists of prehistoric years. -Non-civilised races still existent may offer evidence as to stages -in its evolution; but even among the more primitive races, dancing -seems to have some definiteness of form, marking a heritage of long -practice. - -From some earliest, uncouth leapings and gestures of savage or half -savage tribes (the effect of mere exuberant physical energy) may have -grown the idea of thus expressing joy and thankfulness; for joy, not -sorrow, one feels must surely have been always the first inspirer of -the Dance; and possibly a victory over an enemy, or gratitude for a -full harvest may have come to be first the inspiration, and then the -excuse for repeating such manifestations. - -Repetition of an act tends to create a habit, and what may be at -first apparently a spontaneous experiment grows by repetition into a -cult, with set form and ritual. - -The ritual of the Dance seems to be as ancient as the stars, in -representing the movements of which, it is supposed by some to have -had its origin in Egypt over two thousand years ago. Nowhere is it -found without form. All must be done in a certain way, according -to the traditions of the locality in which the dance is seen, or -according to some wider tradition. Always it has a ritual of its own, -but also with religious ritual the origin of the Dance--as also of -the Drama--appears in some mysterious manner to be upbound. - -Of all the records that we have of dancing, the earliest are, -apparently, those of Egypt. Its origin is not there; it must be -older; but we know at least that the Egyptians were among the first -people with a civilisation that encouraged dancing. - -One of the finest among modern historians of the art, divides -dancing, for convenience in tracing its evolution, into “sacred” and -“profane”; that is, the Dance forming, as so often it did in ancient -times, part of a religious ceremonial, and that which in any other -of its forms was merely a pleasure of the people. For our purpose -in tracing the growth of Ballet, however, it would seem advisable -to divide the Dance yet further, into “sacred,” “secular,” and -“theatrical.” - -The Egyptians had no Ballet of the theatre, because they had no -theatre. They had dances which seem to have been “_representations -ingenieuses_,” and to that extent, as mimetic dances, partook of -the nature of Ballet; but they were not organised as theatrical -spectacles for private or public entertainment. - -The Greeks had no Ballet of the theatre because, though they had the -theatre, they, like the Egyptians, had merely mimetic dances, not -Ballet. - -But if Egypt had no popular theatre in which dancing was seen, it -appears to have existed, nevertheless, in three distinct forms--as -a pleasure of “the man in the street”--just as we see children -dance to a barrel-organ in the London streets to-day; again, as an -entertainment for the wealthy, just as a popular singer, dancer -or other entertainer of to-day is engaged for an “at home” or -dinner-party; and, finally, as an element of the elaborate and -somewhat theatrical Egyptian religious ceremonial. - -Monuments from Thebes and Beni Hassan show pictures of Egyptian -dancers performing steps very similar to some we can see to-day. They -appear to be performing them for the pleasure of onlookers as well as -their own. This acquiring of an audience has, after all, been always -of first importance, and without it the Drama could hardly have come -into existence. - -Most people are interested in seeing others do something they are -unable to do themselves, and when they can see it well done, in a -manner, that is, suggesting a difficult feat accomplished with ease, -they will even pay for the exhibition. That is the popular (with -managers the extremely popular) side of the theatrical arts, of which -dancing is one. When there arises the desire to see the exhibition -repeated frequently, then must follow the special place with special -facilities and accessories for the performance, and the theatre, -or something like it, thus comes into existence as an institution -sustained by popular support. There is first the thing done for -pleasure--which is art; then the exploitation of it for profit--which -is commerce; that is the brief epitaph of any art as a fruit of -civilisation. - -The Egyptians did not reach the “theatre” stage. But dancing, -essentially a popular art, received encouragement as an element in -religious festivals and as an entertainment of the wealthy classes. - -Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the “religious” -dances of Egypt. Enthusiastic historians of dancing seem rather too -prone to expand the little store of fact we possess, and some go to -the length of speaking of the religious and popular “ballets” of the -Egyptians. But it is certain that they had no regular theatrical -spectacles in which dancing was of prime importance; and their -popular dances, to any such extent as they could be described as -“_representations ingenieuses_,” were primitive in comparison with -any of later times. - -Solo-dances and _pas de deux_ were general enough, but the dancing -of massed groups, and the dramatic representation of a story, appear -to have been unknown, or have passed unrecorded if they were known. -The nearest approach to them, though not of course performed as -a theatrical spectacle, would seem to have been an “astronomical -dance,” which was done by or under the direction of the priests -of Apis, and is said to have been--appropriately enough!--a -representation of the movements of the stars. It is probable that it -was employed mainly as a means of education. - -Holy Church in mediæval times took advantage of the popular craving -for theatrical shows, and sought by the aid of “mystery plays,” and -“moralities” to extend the knowledge of religious truths. It may be -conjectured that the Egyptian hierarchy similarly had some such end -in view, and that the priestly caste sought to utilise the popular -taste for dancing as a means of influence, and that the actual -performance of the dance served to fix more lastingly in the minds of -novices the religious and astronomical truths it embodied. - -[Illustration: An Egyptian Male Dancer - -(_From a Theban Fresco_).] - -[Illustration: Egyptian Dancing Girls - -(_From a mural painting in the British Museum_).] - -[Illustration: A Greek Funeral Dance - -(_From a coloured plaque in the Louvre_).] - -In addition to the star-dance, the Egyptians are said to have had a -“funeral” dance, but it is doubtful if this, the “Maneros”--of which -Herodotus speaks--was a solemn dance. The fact is, however, that -information both as to the religious and ceremonial uses of dancing -among the Egyptians is very scant, and what little record we have of -their dancing is mainly on its popular side and is to be gleaned from -monuments. - -One of the frescoes in the British Museum shows two girls performing, -apparently before a select audience of women, one of whom is seen to -be applauding, or perhaps marking the time with syncopated clapping, -as negroes do to-day. - -Another representation of dancing is on a fresco from Thebes showing -three figures, the centre of whom is apparently performing an -_entrechat_, as seen to-day, the step in which the dancer crosses -feet in mid-air; while a fourth acts as orchestra with a couple of -the curious curved maces which were beaten together to mark the -rhythm in sonorous fashion. - -Other Egyptian monuments also show dancers, one from Beni Hassan -depicting several couples, apparently boys, performing a dance that -obviously had certain set steps, and suggests that it was used -mainly as a rhythmic athletic exercise, as were many of the Greek -dances. And yet another monument shows men apparently in the act of -performing a pirouette. About them all there is the air of decision, -a suggestion of trained performance that in itself, remembering that -these monuments are some four thousand years old, and depict steps -similar to some performed to-day, is testimony to the antiquity of -the art of dancing. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -GREECE - - -There is no lack of testimony, pictorial and literary, to the ancient -Greek love of the Dance. - -Among the various arts of war and peace that Vulcan engraved upon -that wondrous shield which he fashioned at the entreaty of sad Thetis -for her son Achilles, the Dance was not forgotten; and the Homeric -singer must have been a lover of the art to limn as clear a picture -as is given in the eighteenth book of the Iliad. - - “There, too, the skilful artist’s hand had wrought - With curious workmanship, a mazy dance, - Like that which Dædalus in Knossos erst - At fair-haired Ariadne’s bidding framed. - There, laying each on other’s wrists their hand, - Bright youths and many-suitored maidens danced.” - - * * * * * - - “Now whirled they round with nimble practised feet, - Easy, as when a potter, seated, turns - A wheel, new-fashioned by his skilful hand - And spins it round, to prove if true it run: - Now featly moved in well-beseeming ranks. - A numerous crowd, around, the lovely dance - Surveyed, delighted; while an honoured Bard - Sang, as he struck the lyre, and to the strain - Two tumblers, in the midst, were whirling round.” - -The “two tumblers” is an interesting detail, but it does not -necessarily refer to the sort of acrobatic “tumbling” we are -familiar with to-day. There have always been two phases of the Dance -which can best be understood by noting the distinction marked by the -use of two words in French--at least by their use among the masters -and writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--namely, -_danser_ and _sauter_. The former means to dance, “_terre-à-terre_,” -that is, always with the feet, or one foot at least, on or close to -the ground; _sauter_, means invariably to leap into the air, or even -to perform steps while both feet are in the air. - -We usually speak of “a somersault,” a “double somersault,” and so -forth. The word is a corruption from the old French _soubresault_, -from the Latin _supra_, over, and _saltus_, leap. - -Early historians of the Dance frequently speak of “saltation,” -without any reference to the “somersault” as we know it, but to what -we should call simply dancing. - -The Homeric picture must have been repeated innumerable times since -it was first limned, whenever and wherever there has been a gathering -of men and maids on a village green, dancing in a circle, with a -couple of high-leaping lads in the centre inciting all to quicken the -rhythm of the whirling dance. Many an Elizabethan village must have -realised such a scene; and for all the artifice of the stage, with -its paint and footlights, does it not hold something of the antique -tradition in the picture often seen, of a circle of dancing girls -enclosing two wildly turning “stars”? Is it impossibly un-Hellenic to -presume that the “Two tumblers, in the midst, were whirling round” in -_pirouettes_? At least it may be considered--a presumption! - -Far later in Hellenic days we have a gracious picture of the Dance -in Theocritus’ eighteenth Idyll, “The Bridal of Helen,” which reads -delightfully in Calverley’s translation: - - “Whilom in Lacedæmon tripped many a maiden fair - To gold-pressed Menelaus’ halls with hyacinths in her hair, - Twelve to the painted chamber, the queenliest in the land, - The clustered loveliness of Greece came dancing hand-in-hand. - With woven steps they beat the ground in unison and sang - The bridal hymn of triumph till all the Palace rang.” - -The Greek dance, it should be noted, was almost invariably -accompanied by singing; and the poet probably was often indebted -to the dance for the rhythm of his verse. The bridal dance was of -very ancient institution. Indeed, there were few occasions which -were not celebrated with dancing, and the Greeks even followed the -Egyptian custom of having “dancers” at their funerals! It is not to -be thought, however, that the steps were exactly gay; nor need there -have been anything incongruous, for we can be sure the instinctive -taste of the people would not have admitted such a thing, and, -moreover, a dance and a dancer as they saw it, were rather different -from the vision we have recalled by such words. - -To the ancient Greeks the Dance was a cult, an element in the -religious and physical well-being of the individual and the State: -and the dance that was taught to the child became an important and -lasting factor in the physical growth and culture of the man. - -We who, most of us, are only too apt to look on dancing as a mere -trivial pastime, may wonder that it _was_ so seriously considered -by the Greeks, and that it should have so earnestly engaged the -attentions of such philosophers as Plato and Lucian. But perhaps that -is only because we have not considered it sufficiently ourselves and -have associated it too closely with theatrical display. - -In any form in which it is at its best the theatre is one of -the noblest and most influential institutions of civilisation; -as dancing, at its best, is one of the finest, because most -comprehensive, of the theatrical arts. But there is a vast difference -between the dance which was a means of physical and mental -development, pursued amid the health-giving surroundings of sunshine -and fresh air, and, let us say, some such degradation of art as -some examples of the “classic” dance we have seen of recent years, -performed in the glare of footlights, amid the smoke-laden atmosphere -of a music-hall. - -The contrast is an obvious one, but the thing to consider is that we -in England have allowed an art which held an important place in Greek -national life, and which should be of the greatest educational value -to ourselves, to become mainly a spectacle of the theatre, where more -often than not it is seen at its best, not necessarily because it is -the result of the best system, _but because it is the fruit of the -greatest practice_. - -It is obviously impossible to deal very fully with the Hellenic -dance in the space of a chapter in a volume which is not intended -to trace the evolution of the Dance but of Ballet. An entire book -were needed to treat the subject adequately--and we have not such a -book in English, as yet. But Emmanuel’s masterly technical review of -Hellenic dancing in his volume _La Danse Grecque_, is invaluable, and -is testimony to the sound and catholic scholarship which in France -scorns no subject as “trivial” merely because those ignorant of its -history dismiss it as such; and which finds sympathetic students in -a country where all the arts are treated with a respect that is at -least as great as that offered to commercialism. - -The Greeks are said to have derived their earlier dances from Egypt. -This may be questionable, because it is equally likely that there -was a traditional, indigenous dance in Greece. But it was _through_ -the Greeks, certainly, that dancing first assumed that variety and -perfection of form and style which all the arts seemed destined to -attain under their quickening, purifying, and inspiring influence; -and it was the Greeks, too, who first began to develop the art of -mimicry. - -First, as already suggested, there would probably have been some -occasion for joy, tending to express itself by dancing; and a victory -over an enemy, or gratitude for a full harvest (the more exalted when -the harvest was of the grape!) would have been such occasions. Later -must have come the idea of _representing_ the victory celebrated, or -the imagined characteristics of the being or beings who were supposed -to be the cause of the earth’s fruition, and who, if propitiated by -this tumultuous acknowledgment of gratitude, perhaps might renew -their favours. - -Thus, in time, out of the ritual of the Dance would have grown the -ritual of representation--Mimicry, miming, or “acting,” as we call -it; and little by little, from the wild exuberance of recurring -poetic festivals, such as those in honour of Dionysus, would -have grown the ordered sense of Drama, the _representation_ of -thanksgiving, of feelings, events and things by Mimicry, the actor’s -art; either allied with, or separate from, dancing. - -The Greeks, improving on the Egyptians, invented and developed the -idea of the Theatre. But though the Greeks in their Drama _utilised_ -the arts of dancing and mimicry, it would seem that they were quite -subordinated to the literary and dramatic art of the all-inspiring -Poet, and that words, with a meaning behind them, words representing, -as far as words can, thoughts, passions, emotions, actions, things, -were the essential medium of Greek Drama, _not_ the art of the Dancer -or the Mime. - -It should be noted that the Greek _orcheisthai_ (ὀρχεῖσθαι), -to dance, implied more than mere steps with the feet. It -included much that goes to make a really good ballet-dancer of -to-day--interpretative dancing and mimetic gesture. The Greeks in -fact had some of the material, if they did not have as we know -it--the Ballet. - -The earliest dramatic poets, Thespis, Phrynichus, were called -“dancers” because in addition to providing the drama as poets, their -function was to train their choruses in the dances which, accompanied -by singing, were introduced in the play. - -One of the most celebrated of the actors in the plays of Æschylus, -Telestes, was said not merely to indicate feelings but to “describe” -events with his hands; and this, which was really miming, was -considered as part of dancing, which Aristotle defined as “the -representation of actions, characters and passions by means of -postures and rhythmic movements.” - -Plutarch analyses dancing as “Motions, Postures and Indications,” a -“posture” being the attitude of the dancer at the moment of arrested -movement, and an “indication,” the gesture which indicated an -external object referred to in a poet’s lines, such as the sky; or -such as an orator would use when raising his hand heavenward invoking -the gods. - -The chief dances used in the Greek drama were the _Emmeleia_, a -stately measure; _Hyporchemata_, lively dances; the _Kordax_, a very -coarse and rough comic dance; and finally the _Sikinnis_, which was -attached especially to satyric comedies and parodied as a rule the -measure of the _Emmeleia_. - -These were all a part, though a subordinate part, of the classic -drama, and, according to some authorities, had their foundation -in the rhythm of the poet’s verse as it was sung by the chorus or -declaimed by the chief actors. - -But apart from these there were mimetic dances. One, in which we -may perhaps even see a hint of the origin of dancing itself, is -found in Longus’ novel, _Daphnis and Chloe_, in which Dryas performs -a vintage-dance, “pretending to gather grapes, to carry them in -panniers, to tread them in a vat and pour the flowing juice into -jars, and then to drink of the wine thus newly made”; and all done so -cleverly that the spectators were deceived for the time and thought -they really saw the grapes, the vats, and the wine the actor made -pretence of drinking. This, probably an incident drawn from life, was -indeed a “_representation ingenieuse_,” and even suggests yet another -of the many possibilities as to the origin of the Dance, namely--that -dancing itself may have originated from the treading of grapes. - -The famous Pyrrhic dance was of course mimetic and represented -a series of war-like incidents, all of which had an educational -purpose, as by their means the youthful soldier was taught how to -advance and retreat, how to aim a blow or hurl a javelin and to dodge -them; and how to leap and vault, in event of meeting ditches and -walls. Apart from military dances in which physical culture and grace -were the chief aims, there were many dances of a purely festival -character taken part in by young men and girls, and by girls alone. - -The close association between religion and the Dance in ancient -Hellenic days is seen in the number of festivals in honour of the -gods, at which special dances were performed, apart from those which -formed part of the classic drama and others which were merely by way -of joyous pastime. Certain dances were performed annually in honour -of Jupiter; others, such as the _Procharysteriæ_, were in honour of -Minerva; then there was the _Pæonian_ dance in honour of Apollo; -the _Ionic_, and the _Kalabis_ and the famous Dance of Innocence, -instituted by Lycurgus, and executed to the glory of Diana, by young -Lacedæmonian girls before the altar of the goddess. The Delian -dance, special to the isle of Delos, was much the same in character -and closed with the offering of floral garlands on the altar of -Aphrodite. One of the most solemn incidents of the Eleusinian -mysteries was the mystical dance-drama representing the search of -Ceres for her daughter Proserpine--practically a “ballet,” in the -older acceptance of the word. - -The secular dance of the Greeks was essentially an individualistic -form. Men and women only rarely danced together, and when they did, -the joining of hands, or anything like chain-dancing was exceptional. -One of these exceptions was the _Hormos_, or Collar-dance as it -was called, which Lucian describes as being danced by youths and -maidens advancing one by one in the form of a collar, made up of the -alternating jewels of feminine grace and manly strength, the dance -being led by a youth. Most of the Greek dances had a leader, and -the favour in which the art was held is shown by the fact that they -termed their Chief Magistrate _Pro-orchestris_, or Leader of the -Dance. As a rule, chain-dances were performed by one or the other sex. - -In another sense also the Hellenic dance was individualistic. We are -accustomed to see entire groups, eight, sixteen, or even thirty-two -or more dancers all performing the same step simultaneously. It -is one of the conventions of Ballet, like the chorus in “musical -comedy.” But the Greeks had not that convention. - -Although their dance was based on strict rhythm and was governed -by rigid rules, they governed the dance of the individual, not of -groups. He, or she, was adjudged a good dancer by the grace of line -displayed and rhythmic balance of movement, and many a vase painting -exhibits groups of dancers who, though dancing in the mass, are -each doing different steps; and equally the gestures and mimetic -expression of each differed. - -The system unquestionably had its advantages, for while the rhythm -of the song or poetic verse which accompanied the performers was the -common basis of the dance for all, the individuality of expression -undoubtedly gave a vitality to the group which accounts for the -vividness and charm of their representation on many an antique vase. - -Numerous indeed were the various forms of the Hellenic dance, -sacred, dramatic, secular--Meursius catalogues some two hundred--but -further description would detain us too long _en route_ towards the -culmination of all these earlier types of mimetic and other dances in -the Ballet of to-day, and we have next to trace the growth of Latin -Mime and Pantomime. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -MIME AND PANTOMIME: ROME, HIPPODROME--OBSCURITY - - -If to Greece modern Ballet owes much for the encouragement of the -Dance, to Rome it is even more indebted for the development of the -art of Pantomime. - -By many the word Pantomime is associated solely with that -time-honoured entertainment which children, home for the Christmas -holidays, are supposed to be too _blasé_ to care for, but which they -go to by way of obliging parents who feel it their duty to take them. - -The Christmas pantomime has long been one of our cherished -institutions, though, like the British Constitution, it has undergone -many changes. It is still given at Christmas. That much of tradition -remains. But most of its original features have all but disappeared. -Time was, two hundred years ago, when it was mainly “Harlequinade,” -and Harlequin and his gay comrades of Italian comedy were the heroes -of the play. Then classical plots and allusions, with an elaboration -of scenic effect and “machines,” brought about a gradual change. In -the early nineteenth century a “topical” and “patriotic” element had -crept in; but the Harlequinade, although shortened, and, shall we -say, _broadened_, still remained. - -Then a craze for “transformation” scenes set in because the extreme -gorgeousness of the tinsel productions of Kemble and Macready--the -archæological and historic “accuracy” of which was always -emphasised!--forced the pantomime producers in self-defence to go one -better. - -And then came Grimaldi to give a new life to the whimsies of that -Clown whose prototype dates back to ancient Rome; and for half a -century or more the Christmas pantomime continued much the same--a -familiar nursery-story played out to the accompaniment of fairy-like -and glittering scenic accessories, concluding with a rough-and-tumble -Harlequinade, until in recent years the introduction of the -Music-hall performer gave us the entertainment we have to-day. - -Not thus, however, was the antique “pantomime,” which, evolving -from the more ancient and spoken “Mimes,” became, because it took -all nature for its province--pan-mimicry, or pantomime; the stage -representation, without the spoken word, of all that eye could see or -mind of man conceive. - -Now, it is a far step from narrative to impersonation--marking an -advance in the technique of acting; and it was some time before the -Greek Drama had achieved this. But it was not so much the impressive -and noble side of the Greek Drama that taught the actors, not merely -to _declaim_ situations but to _act_ them; it must have been the -popular, the comic side; and it was probably the Doric farce, and -later the early Latin comedy derived therefrom, that really brought -to perfection under the Roman Empire the art of _Miming_ apart from -the art of Dancing. - -The comic is so much nearer to life as we see it every day than the -tragic; and it was this ability to see the more familiar comic side -of life, and the desire to travesty the serious--whether in Greece or -Rome--that first gave flexibility and variety to the art of miming, -or “acting,” as we call it nowadays. - -It is because of this nearness to the life of the time, because of -the travesty of contemporary types and public affairs, that the Latin -actors made their wide appeal. - -From public encouragement would come the increasing endeavour of -popular actors to outshine each other in technical _tours de force_; -and from playing the familiar types of Latin Comedy, such as Maccus, -with his double hump, prototype of our Punch; Pappus, forerunner of -Pantaloon, and other characters (some from the early _Mimi_, some -from the _Atellanæ_ and _Togatæ_ of tradition), the Latin Actors -of the first and second centuries A.D. ultimately aspired to the -wordless representation of the gods and heroes of myth and legend. - -According to one authority, “the Latin Pantomime grew out of the -custom at this period--the first century of the Christian era--of -having lyrical solos, such as interludes to flute accompaniment, -between the acts of the Latin comedies.” According to that -admirable historian of the stage, Mr. Charles Hastings, “this new -mode (Pantomime) was a kind of mime, in which poses and gestures -constituted the fundamental portion of the play. Words occupied -a secondary place, and _eventually disappeared altogether_. Only -the music was preserved, and in order that the audience might -understand the gestures of the actors, little books were distributed -in Greek text, intelligible only to the learned and to the upper -classes. Later on the mask--rejected by the mime--was adopted, and -a chorus was employed to _accompany the comedian with their voices, -and to explain the multiple gestures by which the actors created -the different characters in turn. Moreover, there was a company -of mute players._ The libretti left almost unlimited liberty of -detail. Sometimes the music broke off to enable the actor to finish -his _fioritura_ and variations. Sometimes, on the other hand, the -comedian paused, or left the stage, while the story was taken up by -the recitative and the instruments.” - -All this reads much like a description of a modern “mimodrame,” such -as “L’Enfant Prodigue,” or “Sumurun.” Again it reads not unlike a -description of a modern ballet, for with these do we not often have -printed synopses distributed, though _not_ in Greek text? But we have -to remember that the music was primitive, the scenic effect, though -often remarkable, was different from that of our modern stage, with -its greater mechanical resources; and, finally, that all this was an -innovation of the Roman stage, for we are talking of the period that -saw the dawn of the Christian era. - -Among the more famous of the Latin pantomimists were Pylades, who -was the inventor of tragic pantomimes; and Bathyllus, who was the -composer of livelier episodes. For some time they joined forces and -had a theatre of their own, where they staged comedies and tragedies -composed by themselves without words or any other aid in telling the -story of the play than dancing, pantomime and music. - -The innovation struck the popular fancy, and all Rome flocked -to support the new venture. The two actors were received at the -Emperor’s Court, and became the spoilt darlings of the Roman “smart” -set. The inevitable happened. They began to intrigue at Court, -and were made the centre of intrigue; they became as jealous of -each other as rival opera singers, and in time a financially happy -partnership was dissolved, and there were two theatres devoted to -pantomimes instead of one. - -But as this form of drama was a novelty, and pleased the -“connoisseurs,” who were numerous and increasing in numbers, both -theatres were equally successful, perhaps the more so in that the -public is always specially interested in ventures that appear to be -in rivalry. The taste for existing stage-productions slackened in -favour of those offered by Pylades and Bathyllus. Their “ballets” -whether tragic, comic or satiric were looked on as the very -perfection of tragedy, comedy or satire. - -It was no longer a matter of declamatory style to enjoy or to -criticise, it was a matter of steps, movements, gestures, attitudes, -figures or positions that were discussed by wise connoisseurs of -“the new thing,” who in Rome, as elsewhere to-day, had much to say -on what they presumed to understand because--it was new! And such, -it is said, was the genius of the “producers” of this novel form of -entertainment; the effect was so natural, the stage-pictures were -so convincing, the pathos was so moving or the gaiety so free and -infectious, that the audiences forgot they had ears while using -enchanted eyes; and expressive gestures took the place of vocal -inflections, of the power of words and the magic of poetic verse. - -Pylades before long found a rival star arise in the person of Hylas, -whose greatest performance was said to be in _Œdipus_. If Pylades and -Bathyllus had quarrelled, there was evidently no love lost between -Pylades and Hylas. - -Hylas on one occasion was giving a representation of Agamemnon and, -at a particular line referring to that historic personage as “the -great,” he rose up on tip-toe. “That,” said Pylades scornfully, “is -being _tall_, not ‘great’”; a criticism not only just, but giving -an excellent insight into the methods and ideas of the famous Latin -pantomimist. - -It is somewhat uncertain whether it was the Court intrigues of -Bathyllus or of Hylas or of both which ultimately secured from the -Emperor the sentence of banishment for Pylades, or whether it was the -daring, not to say impudence of the actor in representing well-known -people, or whether again it may not have been the increasing danger -of the constant brawls which were taking place daily in the streets -of Rome between the rival factions--the Pyladians and the Bathyllians. - -But whatsoever the reason, the probability is that the perpetual -strife between the parties supporting the adored actors (worse than -ever was that between the Piccinists and Gluckists of the eighteenth -century), with the constant blood-shed it involved, was made the -excuse for the convenient removal of one of the principal factors in -the disorder, and that the influence of Bathyllus, possibly backed up -by that of Hylas, was able to secure the removal of the tragic actor. - -Pylades, however, had his revenge, for such was the uproar in Rome on -his banishment that the Emperor was practically forced to recall him, -and he returned in triumph. - -It is time, however, to leave the affairs of popular actors of the -ancient world, since it is less the details of their personal history -we need to consider than their importance as the virtual inventors -of the second element of Ballet, the art of the mime, or, to use for -a moment the more comprehensive word--pantomime. Thus we can see -that it is largely due to the perfecting by the Italians of that -art which seems to have been even more natural to them than to the -Greeks--miming, that we have the Ballet of to-day. - -From the dawn of the Christian era, comedy gave place to a perfect -craze, first for the mime, and then for its offspring, pure -pantomime. But, finally, the mimetic art as a standing entertainment -of the Roman public, came to suffer neglect in favour of circuses; -then, together with the circuses, it was opposed by the Churches. -There were spasmodic revivals in the fourth and fifth centuries, but -from the fifth century mime and pantomime practically ceased to exist -in Constantinople, to which the seat of the Roman Empire had by that -time been removed; and the arts both of the dancer and the mime fell -upon a period of obscurity, though they went into retirement with all -the reluctance of a modern “star.” - - - - -CHAPTER V - -CHURCH THUNDER AND CHURCH COMPLAISANCE - - -It is a truism of history that opposition towards the amusements -of a people only increases the desire for them, and that the undue -pressure of a law, or of a too rigid majority, only stimulates the -invention of evasions. In dramatic history there is ample proof of -this. - -In England during the seventeenth century the force of Puritan -opinion and of law did not crush the Drama, but led to unseemly -licence. - -When, in the early eighteenth century, Paris was enlivened by the -spectacle of the majestic Royal Opera, endeavouring by legal thunder -to suppress the lively vaudeville performances of the too popular -Paris Fairs, and even going to the length of obtaining decrees -forbidding the Fair theatres to perform musical plays in which words -were sung, were the managers of the little theatres downhearted? - -No! they merely evaded the law and made a mockery of pompous -interference by having the music of their songs played, while the -meaning was acted in dumb-show, and--the actual words, printed very -large, were displayed on a screen let down to the stage from above! -Their audiences, catching the spirit of the thing, enjoyed the wit of -the evasion and supported the performances all the more. - -There are many people who can only relish that which they have been -told is wrong. - -Much the same spirit was abroad about sixteen hundred years ago, when -the growing power of the Christian Church began to be a calculable -factor in “practical politics,” and the embarrassment of successive -Roman emperors in trying to rule an unwieldy and decaying Empire was -increased by the moral warfare between the more rigid sects of the -new Church and the pleasures of the people. - -It should, however, be said in justice to the early Churchmen that -many of the pleasures of the people had become entirely scandalous, -and detrimental to the manhood of the Empire, at least as seen in the -Empire’s capital. Over such let us draw a veil! - -While, in these “democratic” days, it may be doubted if there _are_ -any of the English-speaking race who “dearly love a lord” (though -there is really no reason why they should not!), there were certainly -some thousands of the Byzantine populace in the third and fourth -centuries to whom a successful circus-rider or gladiator, actor or -dancer, was of far more interest than any peer of their period. - -The histrionic favourites lacked, of course, the advantages of -picture-postcard fame, and had to be content with immortality in -verse. But as for the now hackneyed “stage romance” of the marriage -of a youthful scion of a noble house with some resplendent star of -the theatrical firmament, did not a Byzantine Emperor, Justinian, -marry Theodora, once a popular dancer at the Hippodrome! - -Yet he it was who made one of the more effective moves to suppress -some of his people’s excessive opportunities for amusement, by -abolishing the laws under which the expense of the performances in -the Hippodrome, and some of the less important theatres had been -met by the Imperial treasury. This, however, was mainly due to his -beautiful wife, who had seen all the vilest side of theatrical life -in a time when the older dramatic culture had given place to banal -and vulgar entertainments involving a horrible servitude of those -engaged in providing them. - -Before this, however, the Church’s thunder had been launched at the -grosser theatrical spectacles, and the Theatre had retaliated by -mocking the adherents of the then new religion. Where fulmination -failed, control by influence was essayed. But for all the attacks -of the more advanced and severer leaders of the early Church, there -must have been something of confusion for at least the first five -centuries of the Christian era. Indeed, in the endeavour of the -Church to transmute the popular love of theatrical spectacles into -something higher, and to awaken the public interest in the service of -the Church, what with the introduction of choral song, with strophe -and antistrophe, and of solemn processionals, even it is said of -ceremonial dances performed by the choir--such as the Easter dances -still seen in Spain to-day--the Church itself must have come at -times to seem perilously sympathetic towards the very things it was -professing to condemn. - -Did not Gregory Nazianzen implore Julian, before he became “the -Apostate,” to be more discreet, saying in effect: “If you must dance, -and if you must take part in these fêtes, for which you seem to -have such a passion, then dance, if you must; but _why_ revive the -dissolute dances of the daughter of Herodias, and of the pagans? -Dance rather as King David did before the Ark; dance to the glory of -God. Such exercises of peace and of piety are worthy of an Emperor -and a Christian.” - -In short, wise cleric as he was, he found no fault with the healthy -exercise of the dance itself, but only with such dance and other -Byzantine entertainment as had tended, or might tend, to become -merely an exhibition of depraved taste. - -Indeed, how could he have inveighed against the dance as an -expression of clean rejoicing when it had been recorded: “And -Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her -hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels _and with -dances_”?[1] Had not the servants of Achish said: “Is not this David -the king of the land? did not they _sing one to another of him in -dances_, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten -thousands?”[2] Had it not, too, been written: “And David danced -before the Lord with all his might.”[3] - -No, the Church thunder had been directed against the licence by which -the arts of dancing and miming had been corrupted, and against, -not wholesome athleticism and healthy sport, but the hysterical -brutalities and “professionalism” of the arena. - -And if further proof were required of ecclesiastical interest in -and practice of the thing it only attacked when seen in degraded -form, it is to be found in the fact that in 744, the Pope Zacharias -promulgated a Bull suppressing all so-called “religious dances,” or -“baladoires” as he called them, which were showing signs of becoming -“degenerate.” - -These were dances which were performed in, or within the precincts -of cathedrals and churches at certain festivals such as Easter, -Midsummer and Christmas; and of which the old English bonfire dances -of St. John’s Eve, were (and the modern carnival, and the Eastertide -ceremonial seen in Seville to-day, _are_) probably survivals, though, -to be sure, they should be accounted originally as survivals of -earlier pagan dances in honour of the sun, and of the harvest, and -not as originating with the Christian Church. - -It may seem a far cry from the date of Pope Zacharias’ edict of 744, -to 1462, when the first of the _ballets ambulatoires_ is recorded, -but it must not be supposed that dancing, if not miming, is entirely -lacking in history during those seven hundred odd years. Any history -of dancing would aid us in at least partly bridging such a gap; but -it will be convenient in a chapter dealing more especially with -early ecclesiastical influence on the evolution of Ballet, to deal -now with a form of entertainment or of religious festival which was -essentially a creation of the earlier Church. - -The famous procession of the Fête Dieu which King René d’Anjou, -Count of Provence, established at Aix in 1462, was, as an old -historian tells us, an “ambulatory” ballet, “composed of a number of -allegorical scenes, called _entremets_.” This word _entremets_, which -was later replaced by “interludes,” designated a miming spectacle -in which men and animals represented the action. Sometimes jugglers -and mountebanks showed their tricks and danced to the sound of their -instruments. These entertainments were called _entremets_ because -they were instituted to occupy the guests agreeably at a great feast, -during the intervals between the courses. “The entre-actes of our -first tragedies,” the writer adds, “were arranged in this manner, -as one sees in the works of Baif, the interludes in the tragedy of -_Sophonisbie_. More than five hundred mountebanks, Merry Andrews, -comedians and buffoons, exhibited their tricks and prowess at the -full Court which was held at Rimini to arm the knights and nobles of -the house of Malatesta and others.” - -As the fêtes and tournaments, given on these occasions, were -accompanied by acts of devotion, the festivals of the Church often -displayed also something of the gallant pomp of the tournaments. - -These _ballets ambulatoires_, however, with all their richer -pageantry, were yet to be outshone by the two secular entertainments -to which we must devote our next chapter--the banquet-dance of -Bergonzio di Botta, of 1489, and the still more famous “Ballet -Comique de la Reine,” of 1581, the last of which, there can be little -doubt, had important effect in the development if not creation of -our English masque, which, in turn, had an immense influence on the -evolution of modern Ballet. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE BANQUET-BALL OF BERGONZIO DI BOTTA, 1489, AND THE FAMOUS “BALLET -COMIQUE DE LA REINE,” 1581 - - -A superb and ingenious festivity was that arranged by Bergonzio di -Botta, a gentleman of Tortona, in honour of the wedding of Galeazzo, -Duke of Milan, with Isabella of Aragon. - -The good Bergonzio was a lover of all the best things of life, but -especially of dining and of dancing. That historic _gourmet_, Brillat -Savarin, commends him for his taste in the former matter, as may -we for the bright idea of combining a dinner with a dance, one of -somewhat nobler plan than any modern example! - -The dinner was of many courses and each was introduced by the servers -and waiters with a dance in character, the whole constituting a -sort of dinner-ballet. In the centre of a stately salon, which was -surrounded by a gallery where various musicians were distributed, -there was a large table. - -As the Duke and his lady entered the salon by one door, from another -approached Jason and the Argonauts who, stepping proudly forth to the -sound of martial music and by dance and gestures expressing their -admiration of so handsome a bride and bridegroom, covered the table -with the Golden Fleece which they were carrying. - -This group then gave place to Mercury who, in recitative, described -the cunning which he had used in stealing from Apollo, who guarded -the flocks of Admetus, a fat calf, with which he came to pay homage -to the newly married pair. While he placed it on the table three -“quadrilles” who followed him executed a graceful _entrée_. - -Diana and her nymphs then succeeded Mercury. The Goddess was followed -by a kind of litter on which was a hart. This, she explained, was -Actæon, who, although no longer alive, was happy in that he was to be -offered to so amiable and fair a nymph as Isabella of Aragon. At this -moment a melodious symphony attracted the attention of the guests. -It announced the singer of Thrace, who was seen playing on his lyre -while chanting the praises of the young duchess. - -“I mourned,” he sang, “on Mount Apennine the death of tender -Eurydice. Now, hearing of the union of two lovers worthy to live for -one another, I have felt, for the first time since my sorrow, an -impulse of joy. My songs have changed with the feelings of my heart. -A flock of birds has flown to hear my song. I offer them to the -fairest princess on earth, since the charming Eurydice is no more.” - -A sudden clamour interrupted his song as Atalanta and Theseus, -heading a nimble and brilliant troupe, represented by lively dances -the glories of the chase. The mimic hunt was terminated by the death -of the wild boar of Calydon, which was offered to the young Duke, -with triumphal “ballets.” - -A magnificent spectacle then succeeded this picturesque entrance. On -one side was Iris, seated on a car drawn by peacocks and followed by -several nymphs, covered in light gauze and carrying dishes of superb -birds. The youthful Hebe appeared on the other side, carrying the -nectar which she poured for the gods. She was accompanied by Arcadian -shepherds, laden with all kinds of food and by Vertumnus and Pomona -who offered all manner of fruits. At the same time the shade of that -famous _gourmet_ Apicius rose from the earth, presenting to this -superb feast all the delicacies he had invented and which had given -him the reputation of the most voluptuous among ancient Romans. This -spectacle disappeared and then there was a wondrous ballet of all -the gods of the sea and rivers of Lombardy; who carried the most -exquisite fish and served them while executing dances of different -characters. - -This extraordinary repast was followed by a yet more singular -spectacle opened by Orpheus, who headed a procession of Hymen and a -troop of Loves, followed by the Graces who surrounded Conjugal Faith, -whom they presented to the Princess, while offering, themselves, to -serve her. - -At this moment, Semiramis, Helen, Medea and Cleopatra interrupted -a recitative by Conjugal Faith to sing of the delights of Passion. -Then a Vestal, indignant that the recital of pure and true marriages -should be sullied by such guilty songs, ordered the notorious queens -to withdraw. At her voice, the Loves, who accompanied her, joined -in a lively dance, pursuing the wicked queens with lighted torches -and setting fire to the gauze veils of their headdress! Lucretia, -Penelope, Thomiris, Porcia and Sulpicia replaced them and presented -to the young Princess that palm for chastity which they had merited -during their lives. Their “modest and noble” dance, however, was -interrupted by Bacchus, with a troop of revellers who came to -celebrate so illustrious a bridal, and the festival terminated in a -manner as gay as it was ingenious. - -The fête achieved a prodigious fame throughout Italy. It was the talk -of every city and a full description of its glories was published, -while crowds of “society hostesses” of the period endeavoured to -emulate the ingenuity of its originators, and the vogue of the -dinner-ballet “arrived.” - -One effect of its fame was that for a century it set the fashion for -the Royal and Ducal Courts throughout Europe. Every Court had its -“ballets,” in which lords and ladies of highest degree took part; -and the movement was greatly fostered by Catherine de Medici, who -sought to divert the attention of her son, Henry III, from political -affairs towards the more congenial ways of social amusement, of which -Court-ballets formed considerable part. - -The culmination of these sumptuous entertainments came, however, in -1581, when in celebration of the betrothal of the Duc de Joyeuse and -Marguerite of Lorraine, sister of the Queen of France, a spectacle -was arranged, the splendour of which had never been seen in the world -before. This was Beaujoyeux’s famous “Ballet Comique de la Royne”--or -_de la Reine_ in modern spelling--which set all cultured Europe -aglow with praise of its designer. A special account of it, with -many charming engravings, was printed by order of the King to send -to foreign Courts. So much did it set a fashion that the elaborate -masked balls and the numerous Court-masques and entertainments which -followed in the reigns of Henry VIII, Elizabeth and James were -directly inspired by the success of Beaujoyeux’s ballet, even as they -in turn influenced the subsequent productions of Louis XIV in France. - -The author and designer was an Italian, by name Baltasarini, famous -as a violinist. He was introduced by the Duc de Brissac to the notice -of Catherine de Medici, who appointed him a _valet de chambre_, and -subsequently he became official organiser of the Court fêtes, ballets -and concerts, assuming the name of Baltasar de Beaujoyeux. - -[Illustration: Stage Effect in the 16th Century - -(_A Scene from the “Ballet Comique de la Royne,” by Baltasar de -Beaujoyeux_, 1581).] - -The account of the ballet was sumptuously published. The title-page -read as follows: - - - BALET COMIQUE - - De la Royne, faict - aux nopces de mon - sieur le Duc de Ioyeuse & - madamoyselle de Vau - demont sa sœur. - par - Baltasar de Beavioyevlx - valet de chambre du - Roy et de la Royne sa mère. - à Paris - par - Adrian le Roy, Robert Ballard, et Mamert Patisson - Imprimeurs du Roy. - MDLXXXII - Avec Privilege. - -After a courtly dedication “Au Roy de France, et de Pologne,” full of -praise for his prowess in arms and his taste in art, full of graceful -compliment by classic implications, he follows with an address: - - - AU LECTEUR. - - Povravtant, amy Lecteur, que le tiltre et inscription de ce livre - est sans example, et que lon n’a point veu par cy deuant aucun - Balet auoir esté imprimé, ny ce mot de Comique y estre adapté: ie - vous prieray ne trouver ny l’un ny l’autre estrange. Car quant au - Balet, encores que ci soit vne inuention moderne, ou pour le moins, - repétée si long de l’antiquité, que l’on la puisse nommer telle: - n’estant à la verité que des meslanges geometriques de plusieurs - personnes dansans ensemble sous vne diuerse harmonie de plusieurs - instruments: ie vous confesse que simplement representé par - l’impression, cela eust eu beaucoup de nouveauté, et peu de beauté, - de reciter vne simple Comedie: aussi cela n’eust pas esté ny bien - excellent, ny digne d’vne si grande Royne, qui vouloit faire - quelque chose de bien magnifique et triomphant. Sur ce ie me suis - advisé qu’il ne seroit point indecent de mesler l’un et l’autre - ensemblement, et diversifier la musique de poesie, et entrelacer - la poesie de musique et le plus souvent les côfrondre toutes deux - ensemble: ansi que l’antiquité ne recitoit point ses vers sans - musique, et Orphée ne sonnoit jamais sans vers, i’ay toutes fois - donné le premier tiltre et honneur à la danse, et le second à la - substâce, que i’ay inscrite Comique, plus pour la belle, tranquille - et heureuse conclusion, ou elle se termine, que pour la qualité - des personnages, qui sont presque tous dieux et déesses, ou autres - personnes heroiques. Ainsi i’ay animé et fait parler le Balet, et - chanter et resonner la Comedie: et y adjoustant plusieurs rares et - riches représentations et ornements, ie puis dise avoir contenté - en un corps bien proportionné, l’œil, l’oreille, et l’entendement. - Vous priant que la nouveauté, ou intitulation ne vous en face mal - juger; car estant l’invention principalement. Composée de ces deux - parties, ie ne pouvois tout attribuer au Balet, sans faite tout à - la Comedie, distinctement representée par ses scènes et actes: ny à - la Comedie sans prejudicier au Balet, qui honore, esgaye et rempli - d’harmonieux recits le beau sens de la Comedie. Ce que m’estant - bien advis vous avoir deu abondamment instruire de mon intention, - ie vous prie aussi ne vous effaroucher de ce nom et prendre le tout - en aussi bonne par, comme i’ay desire vous satisfaire pour mon - regard. - -Although the quaint spelling of the old French may offer a passing -difficulty to some readers, I have felt it advisable to give the -address as it stands, for it presents several points of extraordinary -interest. - -First and foremost is the fact that it claims Beaujoyeux’s ballet to -be the first ever printed! - -His description of a ballet as “_meslanges geometriques de plusieurs -personnes dansans ensemble_” is extremely interesting. Pylades the -Latin dancer-mime declared that no man could become a perfect -mime who did not understand music, painting, sculpture _and_ -geometry! And in recent years a well-known Italian _maître_ with -whom I was discussing Ballet remarked, as he held up a case of -drawing instruments, “Here is the whole art of choreography,” or -ballet-composition. This may seem a somewhat exaggerated assertion, -but it is a fact that without some knowledge of geometry it would -be difficult for a composer of Ballet to tell the effect that would -be produced by lines and groups of dancers in the sight of a huge -audience all looking at the stage from different angles. - -Beaujoyeux’s claim to appeal to and satisfy “_l’œil, l’oreille, et -l’entendement_” is also interesting, and quite in accord with modern -ideas of the Ballet. - -The entertainment itself must have been a remarkable affair. It began -with a fine water display by a fountain with twelve sides, on each of -which were two naiads, with musical instruments, for the “concert,” -which accompanied the singers. Above the fountain-basin, which was -full of fish, rose another on pillars, where twelve niches made seats -for so many nymphs. In the middle, dolphins carried a crown and -formed a throne for the Queen. Two other basins rose again above, -formed of other dolphins grouped, which spouted great jets of water, -and the whole was topped by a golden ball five feet in diameter. - -It was from this “machine,” drawn by sea-horses and accompanied by -twelve tritons and as many sirens with their instruments, that there -descended the Queen, the Princesse de Lorraine, the Duchesses de -Mercueil, de Guise, de Nevers, d’Aumale and de Joyeuse, Marechal de -Raiz, and de l’Archant and the Demoiselles de Pons, de Bourdeille -and de Cypierre--who had all been seated in golden cars, and who -were dressed in silver cloth and crêpe encrusted with gold bullion -and precious stones. Thus they made the first entrance, arranging -themselves in twelve different figures. At the first entrance they -were six abreast and three in front in a triangle, of which the Queen -formed the first point. - -After this impressive opening the ballet meandered through the story -of Circe, with musical interludes, songs and dances, and elaborate -allegory. But as the first act began at ten in the evening and the -last did not finish till after five in the morning, it will be seen -that the production was as lengthy as it was magnificent. Some idea -of the splendour of the fête, indeed, may be gathered from the -fact that it cost something over three and a half million francs. -The conclusion was graceful. The Queen and the Princesses, who -had represented naiads and nereids, presented gold medals to the -princes and seigneurs who, in the guise of tritons, had danced with -them--presumably as a reward for their patience! This presentation of -gifts became quite a custom at these courtly ballets, and doubtless -the modern _cotillon_ is a survival. - -The “Ballet Comique” set a fashion throughout Europe, and various -Courts vied with each other in similar entertainments. The English -Court had, of course, already had its ceremonial balls, masked balls -and “masques,” but their splendour had been nothing to this, and the -subsequent fêtes at the Courts of Elizabeth and James were directly -influenced by the example of the French in this direction, as we -shall see when we come to deal with the English masque as a form of -Ballet. - -Let us first, however, consider the dances of the period, for which -we have an excellent authority in the work of Thoinot Arbeau. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THOINOT ARBEAU’S “ORCHÉSOGRAPHIE,” 1588 - - -“In Spring,” we know, “the young man’s fancy lightly turns to -thoughts of love.” In the winter of life it would seem that an -old man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of the dances that his -time-stiffened limbs can no more achieve with their earlier agility -and grace, and he takes to--writing about them. For it is strange -but true that some of the most entertaining volumes on the subject -are those written on the history of the dance by “grave and reverend -seigneurs”; who, one would imagine, had long foregone all thought of -youthful pastimes and turned their minds to solemner affairs. Three -such, at least, I can recall--Thoinot Arbeau, Bonnet, and Baron. - -Over three centuries ago--nay, nearly four, we come upon a somewhat -sage and elderly gentleman, Thoinot Arbeau, whose book with its -strange title, _Orchésographie_, was published in 1588. - -Was it shyness, or sheer fraud that made him write it under a false -name, a _nom de théâtre_ it would almost seem. For Thoinot Arbeau -was _not_ his name, but a sort of anagram on his real one, which was -Jehan Tabourot. Moreover, he was sixty-seven when he wrote it, and -was a Canon of the Church! He was born at Dijon in 1519, and was the -son of one Estienne Tabourot, a King’s Counsellor! Think of it--born -four hundred years ago, yet he speaks to our time, telling us, albeit -in somewhat stiff and difficult French, of the dances that were in -vogue in _his_ dancing days. - -As to the strange title of his work, its meaning will of course be -apparent to all who know anything of the history of the subject, -for they will remember that the Greek word for the dance was -_Orcheisthai_ (the _Orchestra_ being the floor-space where the -dancers performed); and so Orchéso_graphie_ is merely a treatise on -the writing of dances; that is, the setting of them down in such form -that subsequent readers could study the dances therefrom. - -The recording of the actual steps of dances has always been a -problem, and other leading masters in France (such as Beauchamps, -Pécourt, Feuillet) and in England (such as Weaver) had several more -or less successful shots during the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries at inventing a sort of dance-shorthand. - -The very first author to attempt such a thing with any real success -was apparently our friend Arbeau; for earlier works, such as that of -Caroso, are very poor. Into the full details of his system, however, -I do not propose to enter now, for the matter is somewhat technical. -The interest of Arbeau’s work, however, is by no means mainly -technical. - -The book, which was published at Lengres in 1588, is written in the -form of a dialogue “by which everyone can easily learn and practise -the honest exercise of the dances,” to give the quaint phraseology of -the original, the two speakers being Arbeau the author, and Capriol, -a youth who some few years earlier had left Lengres to go to Paris -and Orleans and now, on his return, has sought out Arbeau to learn -from him all that he can of dancing. Thoinot at first does not -recognise him because, as he says, “You have grown so, and I believe -that you have also enlarged your spirit by virtue and knowledge.” He -asks the young man’s opinion of the study of Law, remarking that he -was also once a law-student. - -Capriol expresses his admiration for the law as a necessary -institution, but complains that his neglect of the polite arts, while -in the company of the Orleans law-students, has made him dull and -wooden. He says that his knowledge of fencing and tennis makes him an -acceptable companion with other youths, but he fails as a dancer to -please the _demoiselles_, a point on which, it seems to him, depends -the whole reputation of a young man who contemplates marriage. Then -follows some sound advice, with curious details, from Arbeau, on the -advantages of dancing as a matrimonial agent, and he acclaims the art -as one necessary to social welfare. - -Capriol agrees and expresses his disgust that the dance should have -been so subject to bitter attacks, of which he quotes historic -instances. Arbeau neatly responds that, “For one who has blamed, an -infinity have esteemed and praised the art,” also following with -quoted examples, saying, indeed, that “_Le S. prophete royal dauid -dāça au deuāt de l’arche de Dieu_,” or, in other words, that “the -holy prophet, King David, danced before the Ark of God.” - -In the course of their conversation, Arbeau makes learned references -to the derivation of the word “Dance,” mentioning others then in use -that were allied to it, such as _saulter_ (from the Latin _saltare_), -_caroler_ (hence our “carols,” or songs which, originally, -accompanied certain religious dances), _baler_, and _trepiner_, -Capriol remembers that the ancients had three kinds of dances: the -sedate _Emmeleia_, the gay _Kordax_, and the mixed _Sikinnis_, the -first of which Arbeau likens (quite unhistorically) to the _pavanes_ -and _basse-dance_ of his own period; the second, to the _gaillardes_, -_voltas_, _corantos_, _gavottes_ (note that--a reference to the -_gavotte_ in 1588!) and _branles_ (or, as Elizabethan Englishmen -called them, “brawls”); while the third, he declares, must have been -similar to the _branles doubles_ and to “the dance which we call -_bouffons_ or _matachins_.” - -Then, very wisely, he points out that most objections to dancing -have been provoked not by decent but by--objectionable dancing! -And as Capriol hastily assures his austere but kindly teacher that -he wants none of _that_ sort, but that he is anxious to teach his -twelve-year-old sister what Arbeau is good enough to teach him, the -old man proceeds on most polite and methodical lines. - -Arbeau, truly remarking that rhythm is the basis of the dance, as it -was always of all military marching and evolutions, then goes on to -give a wonderful disquisition on that glorious instrument, the drum, -and a masterly analysis of its rhythmic possibilities, both as an -inspirer of soldiers on the march and as a stimulus to the dance. - -The old man’s enthusiasm for an instrument that has never really -received its due homage is truly fine, and he gives no less than -seventy-six examples of drum-beat on a common-time basis. He follows -this with an exposition of fife-playing (with musical examples); his -earnest plea for this study of drum (_tambour_) and fife being only -preparatory to a study of the _basse-dances_, which were properly -accompanied by both instruments. - -As several of these dances of three centuries agone have been revived -in our time, it is of interest to consider them in some detail, more -especially as they formed the choregraphic basis of all the ballets -subsequently for some two centuries. Arbeau informs us that most of -what he calls the “recreative” dances (or as we might say “social,” -as opposed to the more ceremonial affairs necessitating an orchestra) -were performed in his forebears’ time to the music of the flute and -little drum. - -Capriol asks: “Tell me, what are these dances and how are they done?” - -To which Arbeau replies that they danced, in his father’s days, -“_pavanes_, _basse-dances_, _branles_ and _courantes_, which have -been in use some forty or fifty years.” - -Capriol asks: “How did our fathers dance the _basse-dance_?” - -Arbeau replied that they had two sorts, the one common and regular, -the other irregular, the former being danced to “_chansons -régulieres_,” and the latter to “_chansons irrégulieres_,” and -proceeds to explain that, for the former songs, there were sixteen -bars which were repeated, making thirty-two to commence with; then a -middle part of sixteen bars; and a close of sixteen, repeated; making -eighty bars in all. If the air of the song was longer than this, the -_basse-dance_ played on it was termed “irregular.” He then explains -that the _basse-dance_ proper was in three parts, the term being -really only applied to the first; the second being called “_retour de -la basse-dance_,” and the third and last being termed “_tordion_.” - -Then comes the following: - - “_Memoire des mouvements pour la basse-dance._ - - R b ss d r d r b ss ddd r d - r b ss d r b c.” - -Not unnaturally Capriol, who is for ever asking quite intelligent -questions, wants a translation of this cryptic-looking array of -letters. It is better understood when one hears that “R” stands -for _reverence_, “b” for a _branle_, “ss” for _deux simples_, “d” -for a _double_ (or three “ddd” for three “doubles”); the small “r” -stands for a _réprise_, and “c” for _congé_; all of which are terms -understood by dancers of to-day. - -He gives very careful directions not only for performing the -“_reverence_,” the “_simple_,” the “_double_,” the “_réprise_,” -and the “_congé_,” but for performing the various movements of the -_basse-dance_, the _retour_, and the _tordion_; as, for instance, -when he remarks that “You begin the dance of the _tordion_, which is -in triple time, just like the _basse-dance_: but it is (to give his -own words) _plus legiere and concitée_.” - -He describes the _Pavane_ as “easy” to dance, and gives details of -its performance, together with the music of that famous and lovely -example, “_Belle qui tiens ma vie captive_,” the words being given in -full, for four voices and _tambour_ accompaniment. - -The _Gaillarde_, he says, is so-called “_parce qu’il fault estre -gaillard and dispos pour la dancer_,” and with much detail as to its -performance explains that while danced somewhat like the tordion the -latter is done “_plus doulcement and avec actions and gestes moings -violents_.” - -He gives nearly a dozen musical examples for the _gaillarde_, one -called “_La traditors my fa morire_”; another “_Anthoinette_”; -another, with the charming title “_Baisons nous belle_”; another, -“_Si j’ayme ou non_.” - -Capriol, by the way, remarks _apropos_ after the second-named, that -“At Orleans when we give _Aubades_ we always play on our lutes and -_guiternes_ a _gaillarde_ called ‘_La Romanesque_,’” but that it -seemed so hackneyed and trivial that he and his companions took to -“_Anthoinette_” as being livelier and having a better rhythm. - -The _Gaillarde_ was in triple time, and was made up of five steps -(or four steps and a leap) and one “position”; the term _cinq pas_ -also being alternatively applied to it, hence the Shakespearean -“cinque-pace” and “sink-a-pace.” - -The _Volte_, from which is derived the modern valse, was described -by Arbeau as “a species of _gaillarde_ familiar to the Provençals,” -danced, like the _tordion_, in triple time, and consisting of two -steps and a leap. The _Volte_, or _Volta_, as it was as often called, -was popular in England, as was the _Gaillarde_, and references to -it are found in Shakespeare (_Troilus and Cressida_) and in the one -really great work on the Dance in English literature, namely, Sir -John Davies’ richly imaginative and finely musical poem, _Orchestra, -or a Poeme on Daunciny_, which was published in 1596, only eight -years after Arbeau’s _Orchésographie_. - -The _Courante_, Arbeau describes as very different from the _Volte_. -It is also (in contrast to the _Pavanes_ and _Basse-dances_) a _danse -sautée_, but in twelve time, with running steps, requiring from time -to time not the quick, light leaping of a _volte_, but the sort of -slow soaring for which Vestris was famous in the eighteenth century -and Volinin and Bohn can perform so superbly to-day. - -Arbeau says that in his youth the dance was given as a kind of -“ballet,” by three young men and three girls, with grace and dignity -and he bewails its subsequent decadence. The old English term was -“current traverse.” In Sir John Davies’ _Orchestra_ one finds the -following reference: - - “What shall I name those currant travases - That on a triple _dactyl_ foot do run - Close by the ground in sliding passages?” - -In Shakespeare’s _Henry the Fifth_, too, is the following: - - “_Bourbon_: They bid us to the English dancing-schools - And teach _lavoltas_ high and swift _corantos_;” - -and Sir Toby Belch, it will be recalled, asks: “Why dost thou go to -church in a _galliard_ and come home in a _coranto_? My very walk -should be a jig ... sink-a-pace.” - -There seems, however, considerable ground for question as to what the -_courante_, or _coranto_, really was, whether a slow or quick dance. -Arbeau’s directions are, for once, not quite clear. He speaks of it -being a more graceful affair in his younger days; and he was an old -man at the time his _Orchésographie_ was published. In England it -certainly seems to have become a fairly lively dance, of which the -main feature was its “running” steps. - -In France that characteristic seems to have been the same though the -_tempo_ may have been slower. Certainly it became slower there, for -the _courante_ under Louis Quatorze was considered a dull dance, -disappearing in favour of newer types requiring a more developed and -quicker technique. - -However, dances alter in character, like everything else, in the -course of time. The _waltz_ or _valse_ has considerably altered since -it was first introduced into London drawing-rooms--and considered -shocking!--in the first decade of the nineteenth century; and even -to-day there is considerable difference between the _valse_ as danced -by Swiss or German peasants, and as seen in the London ball-room. -It is probable that the _courante_ of Arbeau’s day was as varied in -performance as the tango of our later time. - -Let us return, however, to his description of other dances of the -period. The _Allemande_, he explains, “_est une dance plaine de -mediocre gravité, familiere aux Allemâds, et croy qu’elle soit de noz -plus anciennes car nous sommes desendus des Allemandes_.” But his -authority for the latter statement he does _not_ give! It was danced -by two or more people, in twelve time, and later was a very popular -dance with Louis the Thirteenth. - -A lengthy description follows of the _Branle_, which is also -sometimes spelt _Bransle_, and from which comes our English word -Brawl, the meaning of which has sadly degenerated from its original -significance. - -Saying that, “since you know how to dance the _Pavane_ and the -_Basse-dance_, it will be easy for you to dance the _branles_,” he -then proceeds to give account of over a score, including two which -seem later to have assumed a right to be considered as separate -dances, namely, the _Triory de Bretagne_ (or simply, the Triory) and -the _Branle de la Haye_, sometimes called merely the Haye, Hay, or -Hey, which was an interlacing chain-dance. - -Among the examples he gives is a _Branle d’Escosse_, of which he -says: “_Les branles d’Escosse estoient en vogue y a environ vingt -ans_,” and it is much like the customary Scotch reel. The _Branles -des Lavandières_, he explains, is so-called because the dancers -make a noise by clapping their hands to represent that made by -the washerwomen who wash their clothes on the banks of the Seine. -Another, the _Branle du Chandelier_, was danced with lighted candles. - -A description of the _Gavotte_ follows, and it is interesting to note -that this dance which is still seen on the stage sometimes to-day, -was an established favourite as far back as 1588. Then comes an -account of the “Morisque” dance, the origin of which Arbeau places -in the Saturnalia of the ancient world, not without reason, one -fancies; and then he gives account of the _Canaries_, which, he says, -_some_ say takes its name from the Canary Isles, while others derive -it “from a ballet composed for a masquerade in which the dancers -were dressed as kings and queens of Mauretania, or even as savages -therefrom, with headdress of varied plumage.” The last chapter is -devoted to the dance of Bouffons, a dance with sword and buckler -supposedly derived from ancient Rome and a never-failing source of -delight to French playgoers and opera-lovers of the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries. - -Before the “Dialogue” actually closes, young Capriol politely -thanks Monsieur Arbeau for the trouble he has taken to teach him -dancing, and Arbeau responds by promising a second volume (alas! -never written) dealing with the ballets of the masquerades “made” -at Lengres. He urges him meanwhile to practise “_les dances -honnestement_,” and so become a worthy comrade of the planets “_qui -dancent naturellement_”: and he closes his discourse very prettily -with the words, “_Je prie Dieu vous en donne la grace_.” - -We have lingered somewhat over this old manual of dancing, but there -are some half-dozen points in the history of ballet that it is of -vital importance to emphasise, and Arbeau’s book is one of them. - -Dancing itself of course had continued to exist through all time. -But from the decadence of Rome until fairly late in the fifteenth -century, ballet had only a precarious sporadic existence; and the -production of Beaujoyeux’s volume of the _Ballet Comique de la Royne_ -in 1582, and Arbeau’s _Orchésographie_ in 1588, made a turning-point -in the history of ballet--the _point where a popular amusement was -once again taken up by men of intellect and given a new form and -a new spirit_. Beaujoyeux created an interest in ballet, Arbeau -assisted an advance in the technique of one of the chief elements of -the art, namely, dancing; and there can be little doubt that both men -were largely instrumental in forwarding that movement towards popular -delight in the theatrical masque and ballet which were to become an -outstanding feature of the next two centuries, the seventeenth and -the eighteenth. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -SCENIC EFFECT: THE ENGLISH MASQUE AS BALLET - - -In considering di Botta’s elaborate feast, and Beaujoyeux’s “ballet,” -one is struck by their similarity to the English “disguisings” and -masques, which, first introduced to the Court of Henry the Eighth in -1512 as a novelty from Italy, only began to assume definite literary -form about a century later. That century contributed towards the -development of scenic effect. - -In studying Arbeau’s manual of contemporary dance and music, one is -struck by another thing: he is dealing with a social amusement of -the upper classes. The dances he describes were mainly the proper -accomplishment of the well born, or were such of lower origin as -might with adaptation become worthy of performance by more courtly -dancers. It is certain he does not describe all the types of dance -known to his period. The old Provençal “_Rigaudon_” which was later -to come into such favour owing to Camargo, is not referred to by -Arbeau; nor the languorous “_Sarabande_,” which was probably of -Moorish origin derived through Spain--or possibly earlier through -Augustan Rome; the lively “_Chaconne_” is another omission; the -“_Tresca_” yet another. These, and perhaps others, must have existed -in Arbeau’s time and long before; but would be among the traditional -amusements of the people, and were not yet elected to the company of -courtly dances. - -It is needful to linger over these points here, for they account for -much that we find in the subsequent development of theatrical ballets -in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. - -Speaking of Beaujoyeux’s “_Ballet Comique_,” Castil Blaze, the -scholarly historian of the Paris opera, remarks that it “became the -model on which were composed a number of _ballets_, sung and danced, -a kind of piece which held the place of Opera among the French -and English for about a century.” That century was, roughly, from -about 1500 to 1600. And he adds: “The English gave them the name of -_masque_.” - -In the few years after Henry VIII came to be crowned the young -monarch spent considerable time and spared no expense in entertaining -himself and his Queen with “disguisings,” “revels” and masqued balls. - -On Twelfth Night, 1511, before the banquet in the Hall at Richmond, -so records the contemporary chronicler, Edward Hall, there “was -a pageant devised like a mountain, glistering by night as though -it had been all of gold and set with stones; on the top of which -mountain was a tree of gold, the branches and boughs frysed with -gold, spreading on every side over the mountain with roses and -pomegranates; the which mountain was with (de) vices brought up -towards the King, and out of the same came a lady apparelled in cloth -of gold, and the children of honour, called the henchmen, which were -freshly disguised and danced a Morris before the King, and that done -re-entered the mountain: and then was the wassail brought in and so -brake up Christmas.” - -The next year the King himself took part in a similar pageant; and -in the next, _i.e._ in 1513, so Hall tells us, “the King with eleven -others were disguised after the manner of Italy, called a Mask, a -_thing not seen before in England_. They were apparelled in garments -long and broad, wrought with gold, with visors and caps of gold; and -after the banquet these masquers came in with six gentlemen disguised -in silk, bearing staff-torches, and desired the ladies to dance.” - -A little later came the introduction of singing, and dialogue as well -as dancing, some allegorical story forming the basis of the masque. -In Beaujoyeux’s “ballet” of 1582, we have all this. Up to then in -England the masque made no great advance beyond those of Henry VIII’s -early years. In Beaujoyeux’s “ballet,” however, we have all that -_had_ been, and more. We have dancing, singing, dialogue, elaborate -scenic effect, all in illustration of a mythic and allegorical -story; and achieving a definiteness and grandeur of form hitherto -unequalled, as well as publicity which made it famous throughout -Europe. In some ways it was as much masque as “ballet,” and as much -opera as masque. Actually it did stimulate the development of the -Masque in England; and Opera in France. - -At the English Courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, the masque -developed in the direction of scenic elaboration and splendour (with -_music_) that made up for its literary shortcomings, at least in its -earlier period. - -At the French Courts of Henry IV and Louis XIII, what were known as -Opera-ballets (later to be separated as opera and ballet) developed -a musical richness (_with_ scenic effect) that made up for similar -literary shortcomings. Yet again came another form in the _Comedie -Ballet_ of Molière. - -With the accession of James I of England came the real efflorescence -of the English masque, which under the hands of Ben Jonson was to -become a fairly balanced harmony of the three arts--the poet’s, the -musician’s, and the painter-designer’s. - -It must of course be understood that in both the masque and ballet -there was dancing; but at the period with which we are now dealing, -namely the last decade of the sixteenth and first few decades of -the seventeenth centuries, the technique of that art was--for -stage purposes--comparatively so primitive as to make it almost a -negligible quantity. There was dancing of course--that of “henchmen” -and men and boys who performed a Morris, or _bouffon-dances_; -and that of courtier, Court-lady, or even, it might be, a Royal -personage, who would take part in the stately _Pavane_ or _Almain_, -now and then unbending sufficiently to dance a _Trenchmore_ (once -Queen Elizabeth’s favourite) or _Canary_. - -But it was all either an intrusion, alien to the general purport of -the production, or else vastly overshadowed by the chief design, -which was to present, with the aid of “disguisings” and elaborate -“machines,” a sort of living picture or series of living pictures, -expressing some mythological, allegorical episodes or complimentary -idea. - -The chief aim was splendid pageantry; something mainly to please -the eye; and secondarily to charm the ear; without making too great -claims upon the intellect. - -Among the leading English masque writers during the period we are -considering were George Gascoigne, Campion, Samuel Daniel, Dekker, -Chapman, William Browne, Beaumont and Fletcher and Jonson. - -In France, at the Court of Henri Quatre, and under the direction of -his famous minister, the great and grave Sully--who himself took part -in them--some eighty ballets were given between 1589 and 1610, apart -from state balls and _bals masqués_. - -In England among the more notable masques produced during about the -same period were the following:-- - - 1585. The Masque of “Lovely London,” performed before the Lord - Mayor. - - 1589. A Masque planned by order of Queen Elizabeth in honour of - the wedding of King James VI of Scotland and Anne of - Denmark. - - 1594. A Masque before Queen Elizabeth at Whitehall. - - 1604. A Masque by Samuel Daniel, “The Twelve Goddesses,” arranged - by Queen Anne, Consort of James I, in honour of the Spanish - Ambassador, at Hampton Court. - - 1605. “The Masque of Blackness,” by Ben Jonson (his first real - masque) given on Twelfth Night at Whitehall. - - 1606. Ben Jonson’s “Masque of Hymen,” for the marriage of Robert - Devereux, third Earl of Essex, with the Earl of Suffolk’s - younger daughter, Frances Howard. - - 1608. Ben Jonson’s “Masque of Beauty”--a sequel to the “Masque - of Blackness” at the request of the Queen Consort, who, with - the Ladies of the Court, took part in the performance. This - was followed in the same year by his “Hue and Cry after - Cupid,” given at Court on Shrove Tuesday, in celebration of - Lord Viscount Haddington’s marriage. - - 1609. Ben Jonson’s “Masque of Queens” at Whitehall on Twelfth - Night. - -All these were elaborate productions; those of Jonson being indeed -beautiful. Their literary value has long been realised, and one sees -in them some of his finest work. The introductory descriptions and -the stage-directions are singularly minute and careful, and, in their -way, are quite as well worth study as the beauties of his strong and -noble verse. - -He writes of scenes and costumes as if he loved them: as when, in -“The Masque of Blackness,” he describes the Moon, “triumphant in a -silver throne.... Her garments white and silver, the dressing of her -head antique, and crowned with a luminary or sphere of light; which, -striking on the clouds, and brightened with silver, reflected, as -natural clouds do, the splendour of the moon. The heaven about her -was vaulted with blue silk, and set with stars of silver, which had -in them their several lights burning.” - -And again: “The attire of the masquers was alike in all, without -difference: the colours azure and silver; but returned on the -top with a scroll and antique dressings of feathers, and jewels -interlaced with ropes of pearl. And for the front, ear, neck, and -wrists the ornament was of the most choice and Orient pearl: best -setting off from the Black.” - -For the scenery and mechanical effects or “machines” as they were -called--there was Inigo Jones, the travelled artist-architect who -had seen many a masking in Italy; for the music there was Alfonso -Ferrabosco, son of the Italian composer, appointed music-master at -the Court of James I; and for _Maître de danse_, there were Thomas -Giles and Hieronimus Herne. - -It was a noble company who took part in the performances. In “The -Masque of Blackness,” though there were only three speaking parts, -Oceanus, Niger and Æthiopia--the impersonators of which are not -recorded--there was no less a personage than Queen Anne herself, -Consort of King James, who appeared as Euphoris, supported by the -Countess of Bedford (Aglaia), Lady Herbert (Diaphane), the Countess -of Derby (Eucampse), Lady Rich (Ocyte), Countess of Suffolk (Kathare) -and other fair ladies of title. - -The “Masque of Beauty,” a superb spectacle given at the Court some -three years later by express command of Her Majesty, had for speaking -parts only three, namely those of Boreas--“_in a robe of russet and -white mixed, full and bagged; his hair and beard rough and horrid; -his wings grey, and full of snow and icicles; his mantle borne from -him with wires and in several puffs_”; Januarius--“_in a throne of -silver; his robe of ash colour, long, fringed with silver; a white -mantle; his wings white and his buskins_”; and Vulturnus--“_in a blue -coloured robe and mantle, puft as the former, but somewhat sweeter; -his face black, and on his head a red sun, showing he came from the -East_.” - -Following the entrance of Vulturnus, bringing--in reference to the -former “Masque of Blackness”--the good news of his discovery of a -lost isle whereon the black but lovely daughters of Niger had been -languishing in obscurity, there came a fine pageant. - -“Here,” as Jonson’s stage directions describe it, “a curtain was -drawn in which the night was painted, and the scene was discovered -which (because the former was marine, and these, yet of necessity, to -come from the sea) I devised should be an island floating on a calm -water. In the midst thereof was a Seat of State, called the Throne -of Beauty, erected; divided into eight squares, and distinguished -by so many Ionic pilasters. In these squares, the sixteen masquers -were placed by couples; behind them in the centre of the throne -was a tralucent pillar, shining with several coloured lights, that -reflected on their backs. From the top of which pillar went several -arches to the pilasters, in front, little Cupids in flying posture, -waving of wreaths and lights, bore up the cornice; over which were -eight figures, representing the elements of Beauty, which advanced -upon the Ionic, and, being females, had the Corinthian order.” - -They were: Splendour, Serenitas, Germinatio, Lætitia, Temperies, -Venustas, Dignitas, and Perfectio. Minute description is given of -their garments, but is too lengthy for inclusion here. The stage -directions then proceed: - - “On the top of all the throne (as being made out of all these) - stood HARMONIA, a personage whose dressing had something of all - the others, and had her robe painted full of figures. Her head was - compassed with a crown of gold, having in it seven jewels equally - set. In her hand a lyra, whereon she rested. - - “This was the ornament of the throne. The ascent to which, - consisting of six steps, was covered with a multitude of Cupids - (chosen out of the best and most ingenious youth in the kingdom, - noble and others) that were torch-bearers; and all armed with bows, - quivers, wings, and other ensigns of love. On the sides of the - throne were curious and elegant arbours appointed; and behind, in - the back part of the isle, a grove of grown trees laden with golden - fruit, which other little Cupids plucked, and threw at each other, - whilst on the ground, leverets picked up the bruised apples and - left them half eaten. The ground-plat of the whole was a subtle - indented maze; and in the two foremost angles were two fountains - that ran continually, the one Hebe’s and the other Hedone’s; in the - arbours were placed the musicians, who represented the shades of - the old poets, and were attired in a priest-like habit of crimson - and purple, with laurel garlands. - - “The colours of the masques were varied; the one half in orange - tawny and silver; the other in sea-green and silver. The bodies of - short skirts on white and gold to both. - - “The habit and dressing for the fashion was most curious, and so - exceeding in riches, as the throne whereon they lay seemed to be a - mine of light, struck from their jewels and their garments. - - “This throne, as the whole island moved forward on the water, - had a circular motion of its own, imitating that which we call - _motum mundi_, from the east to the west, or the right to the left - side.... The steps whereon the Cupids sat had a motion contrary, - with analogy _ad motum planetarum_, from the west to the east; - both which turned with their several lights. And with these three - varied motions, at once, the whole scene shot itself to the land.” - -After a chorus with echoing refrain, “Vulturnus the wind spake to the -river Thamesis, that lay along between the shores, leaning upon his -urn, that flowed with water, and crowned with flowers; with a blue -cloth of silver robe about him; and was personated by Master Thomas -Giles, who made the dances. - - “_Vul._ Rise, Aged Thames, and by the hand - Receive the nymphs, within the land, - And in those curious squares and rounds - Wherewith thou flow’st betwixt the grounds - Of fruitful Kent and Essex fair - That lends the garlands for thy hair; - Instruct their silver feet to tread, - Whilst we, again, to sea are fled. - - “With which the Winds departed; and the river received them into - the land, by couples and fours, their Cupids coming before them. - - “These dancing forth a most curious dance, full of excellent device - and change, ended it in the figure of a diamond, and so, standing - still, were by the musicians with a second SONG, sung by a loud - tenor, celebrated. - - “So Beauty on the waters stood, - When Love had severed earth from flood! - So when he parted air from fire, - He did with concord all inspire! - And then a motion he them taught, - The elder than himself was thought. - Which thought was, yet, the child of earth, - For Love is elder than his birth. - - “_The song ended; they danced forth their second dance, more subtle - and full of change than the former; and so exquisitely performed, - as the king’s majesty (incited first by his own liking to that - which all others there present wished) required them both again - after some time of dancing with the lords. Which time, to give them - respite, was intermitted with a song._ - - “This song was followed by others. - - “_After which songs they danced galliards and corantos; and with - those excellent graces, that the music appointed to celebrate them, - showed it could be silent no longer; but, by the first tenor, - admired them thus_: - - “SONG. - - “Had those that dwelt in error foul, - And held that women have no soul, - But seen these move; they would have then - Said, women were the souls of men; - So they do move each heart and eye - With the world’s soul, true harmony. - - “_Here they danced a third most elegant and curious dance, and not - to be described again by any art but that of their own footing, - which ending in the figure that was to produce the fourth_, JANUARY - _from his state saluted them thus_: - - “_Janu._ Your Grace is great, as is your Beauty, dames; - Enough my feasts have proved your thankful flames - Now use your seat; that seat which was, before, - Though straying, uncertain, floating to each shore, - And to whose having every clime laid claim, - Each land and nation urgéd as the aim - Of their ambition, Beauty’s perfect throne, - Now made peculiar to this place alone; - And that by impulsion of your destinies, - And his attractive beams that lights these skies; - Who, though with ocean compassed, never wets - His hair therein, nor wears a beam that sets. - Long may his light adorn these happy rites, - As I renew them; and your gracious sights - Enjoy that happiness, even to envy, as when - Beauty, at large, brake forth and conquered men! - - “_At which they danced their last dance into their throne again._” - -These quotations, though necessarily brief, illustrate the -characteristic elements in the construction of the masque--dancing, -music, song, spoken verse and _elaborate scenic effect_. - -The reference to Thomas Giles, “who made the dances,” to the dances -themselves, “_galliards and corantos_,” and that charming admission -as to “a third most elegant and curious dance” not to be described -again “by any art but that of their own footing”; the reference to -the arbours in which “were placed the musicians, who represented -the shades of the old poets, and were attired in a priest-like -habit of crimson and purple, with laurel garlands”; the song of -the “first tenor”--“Had those that dwelt ...” and January’s speech -apostrophising women’s beauty; above all the loving descriptions of -the scenery and mechanical effects, must all be of uncommon interest -to those who know anything of the history of the French ballet, -because it is so closely paralleled in the descriptions given some -seventy years later by the Abbé Menestrier of the entertainments -at the Court of Louis XIV. The English “masques” of the early -seventeenth were, in effect, the French “ballets” of the early -eighteenth century. To return, however, to the English Court of James -I. - -The Queen and Ladies of her Court once again took part in the -entertainment of His Majesty as representatives of the various types -of Beauty introduced in the course of the masque, and yet again were -they found in the noble “Masque of Queens,” celebrated from the House -of Fame, by the Queen of Great Britain with her Ladies, at Whitehall, -February 2nd, 1609, which was dedicated to the young Prince Henry, as -to the origin of which Ben gives the following interesting note: “It -increasing,” he says, “to the third time of my being used in these -services to Her Majesty’s personal presentations, with the ladies -whom she pleaseth to honour; it was my first and special regard, to -see to the dignity of their persons. For which reason I chose the -argument to be _A celebration of honourable and true Fame bred out of -Virtue_.” - -All of which in a sense foreshadowed the various symbolic ballets -later at the Court of France, such as _La Verité, ennemie des -apparences_, which we shall come to consider in due course. The thing -to realise now is that these masques of Ben Jonson and of other men -of his period were the finest flowering of a form of entertainment -which had been struggling for definite shape throughout the previous -century, indeed from the days of di Botta’s fête in 1489, and had -received its most recent and most effective stimulus from France -in the production of Beaujoyeux’s wondrous symbolic and mythologic -“ballet” some twenty odd years before Ben Jonson’s first “masque” -was produced. The English masque--partly dramatic “interlude” with -song, music and dance introduced, was in effect a ballet, and was a -direct influence in the formation of the “opera-ballets” which were -subsequently to be the delight of the French Court for a century or -more. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -BALLET ON THE MOVE - - -If the masque was a kind of ballet that did not move from its -appointed place within sight of the Royal and Courtly audience, by -whom it was commanded as a spectacle for private entertainment, there -was a “ballet” which did, and became, like the “carrousels” and -“triumphs,” a very public spectacle, namely the _ballet-ambulatoire_, -or peripatetic “ballet,” said to have originated among the -Portuguese, and much encouraged by the Church. - -The Beatification of Ignatius Loyola in 1609 is an instance of -peripatetic “ballet” famous in the history of the dance. - -Interesting account of it is given by the invaluable Menestrier, who -writes: - -“As the Jesuits had a war-like character, they chose the Siege of -Troy for the subject of their ballet. The first act took place -before the church of Notre Dame de Lorette. It was there they stood -the wooden horse. Full of Jesuits, the machine began to move, while -numerous dancers acted the most remarkable feats of arms of Achilles, -Ajax, Hector and Æneas. The monstrous horse and its retinue advanced, -preceded by a brilliant orchestra. They arrived at the Place St. -Roch, where the Jesuits had their church. The city of Troy, or -at least a part of its towers and ramparts, constructed of wood, -occupied a third of this place. A piece of wall was broken down, to -give entrance to the horse, the Greeks descended from the machine and -the Trojans attacked them with guns. The enemy defended with the -same arms, and the two sides fought--while dancing! Eighteen great -staves filled with fireworks caused the burning and the ruin of Troy!” - -One might be puzzled to know how the author of such a drama would -introduce Saint Ignatius Loyola on the scene. The maker of the -“book,” however, had no qualms, and, leaving the Greeks and Trojans -buried beneath the ruins of Ilium, on the following day, he led -the spectators to the seashore. “Four brigantines,” the chronicler -proceeds, “richly decorated and fenced, painted and gilded, covered -with dancers and ‘choirs of music,’ present themselves at the Port. -They bring four ambassadors, who, in the name of the four quarters -of the globe, come to swear homage and fidelity, to offer presents -to the newly beatified, to thank him for his benefits and to beg his -protection for the future. All the artillery of the Forts and of the -vessels salute the brigantines on their entrance. The ambassadors -then mount the cars in waiting and advance towards the College of -the reverend fathers, with an escort of three hundred Jesuits on -horseback, dressed as Greeks! Four troops of inhabitants of the four -quarters of the world, dressed in national costumes, dance round -the cars. The realms, the provinces, represented by their _genii -loci_, march before their ambassador. The troop from America is the -first, and among the dancers are many children disguised as monkeys -and parrots, and twelve dwarfs, mounted on little nags. The car of -Asia is drawn by two elephants. Six superb horses form the team of -the others.” The diversity, the richness of the costumes was not the -least ornament of this singular ballet, for it is said that several -of the actors had on their garments precious stones of great value. - -It is the Portuguese who claim to have invented the true ambulatory -ballets, which--designed in imitation of the Thyrennian “pomp” -described by Appius Alexander--were danced in the streets of a town -proceeding from place to place, with movable stages and properties. -The performances were given on saints’ days and with the greatest -solemnity. - -In the year 1610 Pope Paul V. canonised Cardinal St. Charles -Borromée, who, under the pontificate of Pius IV., his uncle, was -patron of the kingdom of Portugal, and that grateful nation wished to -honour him publicly. - -In order that it should be done with the greater solemnity, they put -his image on board a ship, as if he were coming back once more to -assume the protection of the kingdom of Portugal. - -“A richly decorated vessel with flying sails of divers colours and -silk cordage of magnificent hues, carried the image of the saint -under a canopy of gold brocade. On its appearance in the roads all -the vessels in port, superbly arrayed, advanced to meet it, and -rendering military honours, brought it back with great pomp, and -a salute from the guns of Lisbon and all the vessels in Port. The -reliquaries of the patron Saints of Portugal, carried by the nobles -of state and followed by the religious, civil and military bodies, -received the new Saint on disembarcation.” - -As soon as the image was landed, it was received by all the monks -and the whole of the ecclesiastical body, who went to meet it in -procession with four large chariots containing different tableaux. -The first car represented Fame, the second the town of Milan, the -third Portugal, and the fourth the Church. Besides the chariots, each -company of monks and each Brotherhood carried its own particular -Saint on rich litters, called by the Portuguese “andarillas.” The -image of St. Charles was ornamented with precious stones to the value -of twenty-six to twenty-seven thousand crowns; several others to the -value of sixty, seventy and eighty thousand crowns, and the jewels -that were displayed at this fête were estimated at more than four -millions. - -Between each chariot were troops of dancers, who represented, -in dancing, the more notable of the acts of the Saints. Octavio -Accoromboni, Bishop of Fossombrone, who obtained these honours -for St. Charles, was at this time in the town of Lisbon, where he -had gone to collect certain monies that Portugal was giving to -the Pope. He has left us a description of this fête, in which he -remarks that “the Italians and more especially the Romans, should -not be surprised to read that dances and ballets formed a part of so -sacred a ceremony, because in Portugal processions and fêtes would -not seem elevated nor serious enough unless accompanied by these -manifestations of joy.” - -In order to prepare for these fêtes, dances, ballets and processions, -the Lisbon folk had decorated, several days beforehand, big masts -erected at the doors of the churches where the service was to be -held, and at different places on the roads where the processions and -performances would pass. “These masts were of pine, gilded and decked -with crowns, streamers and banners of different colours, similar to -the masts put up in France at the doors of the magistrates’ houses on -the first of May in several towns of the kingdom, a custom which has -given to these masts the name of ‘Maypole.’ The Spaniards call them -‘Mayos,’ or ‘_Arboles de Enamorados_’ (Lovers’ trees) because young -men plant them on the first of May at the door of their mistresses’ -houses.” The procession passed through triumphant arches, and the -streets were hung with tapestries and strewn with flowers. - -Three masts were planted at the places of the actual performance, one -at the spot at the port where the procession was to start after the -landing of the image of St. Charles, another in the middle of the -route, and the third at the door of the church where the procession -was to end, and where the image of the saint was to be placed. These -masts marked the places for the performances, for it was there the -procession stopped, and the dancers made their chief entrances in the -“ballet.” Needless to say immense sums were spent on the fête. - -These are but two instances of the _ballet-ambulatoire_. More might -be given, but these will suffice to afford some idea of a type of -spectacle which the older historians speak of as a “ballet,” but -which is of special interest to us by reason of the contrast it forms -to the masque, which was the reverse of “ambulatory,” and from the -fact that though in direct contrast on another score, namely, that it -was not a private but a public spectacle, it was under the “immediate -patronage” of the Church! - -Neither the masque nor the _ballet-ambulatoire_, was yet a theatrical -entertainment; but it is curious, is it not, to note that they had -a certain kinship with theatrical tradition, for these magnificent -peripatetic “ballets” of the ecclesiastics had had a primitive -forerunner in the performance of Thespis with his travelling car in -Grecian towns and villages some six centuries before the Christian -era! Even as, later, we in fourteenth-century England had our Mystery -and Miracle plays travelling from “station” to “station” in similar -fashion, and our “mummers” or mimers; while, on the other hand, the -masque itself, as a private entertainment of the English Court, with -its stage, and “machines,” scenery, dancing, music and song, not to -mention its Royal and Courtly audience, was forerunner of similar -entertainments which a century later were to become the features of -the Courts of Louis XIV and XV, and from that to develop under Royal -Patronage into the Ballet of the Theatre. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -COURT BALLETS ABROAD: 1609-1650 - - -While the English Court was enjoying its masques, during the reigns -of Henry VIII, Elizabeth and James, and the French were labouring -forth their heroic ballets under Henri Quatre--more than eighty -having been given from 1589 to 1610, without counting insignificant -balls and masquerades--Italy was similarly keeping up in the movement -which her example had originally inspired. - -It was the custom there to celebrate the birthday of the Princess by -an annual public fête. As one old historian records, the more usual -spectacles of these celebrations were in the form of “Carrousels, -Tournois, des Comedies, des Actions en Musique, des Festins, des Feux -d’Artifice, des Mascarades quand ces Fêtes se trouvent au temps du -Carnaval, des Presens, des Illuminations, des Chasses, des Courses -sur la Neige et sur la Glace suivant la saison, des Promenades et des -Jeux sur les Eaux.” - -The Court of Savoy was particularly devoted to such entertainments. - -In 1609 there was a _ballet d’armes_, entitled, “_Il Sol nascente -nell’ oscurità dell Tile_,” danced by the “Serene” Princes of Savoy, -the occasion being the anniversary of the birth of their Royal -father, the Duke Charles Emannuel. - -Again, in 1611, the Prince of Piedmont gave a fête in honour to his -father’s birthday, representing “The Taking of the Isle of Cyprus.” - -[Illustration: Stage Effect in the 17th Century - -(_From a coloured engraving of a scene from “Circe_,” 1694).] - -In the year 1615 was produced a mounted ballet at this same Court -(Savoy) for the arrival of the Prince d’Urbin. This was an attack -and a combat to music against three hundred men on foot, who formed -different companies of various shapes, lunated, oval, square and -triangular. They had drilled their horses so well that they were -never out of step with the rhythm of the music. There were numerous -cars drawn by lions, stags, elephants, rhinoceroses, etc., and as -they represented the triumph of Love over War, the Four Quarters -of the World followed the cars of the victors mounted in as many -chariots. The Car of Europe was drawn by horses, that of Africa by -elephants, that of Asia by camels, that of America by “unicorns”! The -cars of this festival had engraved work on them by Callot. - -In 1618, “The Elements,” a grand ballet and tourney was represented -by the Duke of Savoy and his son, the Prince of Piedmont, on the -former’s birthday. - -“The Temples of Peace and War on Mount Parnassus,” a ballet and -tourney “avec un Festin à la Chinoise,” formed the entertainment of -the following year. - -“The Judgment of Flora on the Dispute of the Nymphs over the Crown of -Flowers presented to Mme. Royale on her Birthday,” is the long and -stately title of a fête given at Turin in 1620. - -“The Tribute of the Divinities of the Sky, Air, Sea and Infernal -regions,” was a grand ballet and tourney of 1621. “The Ballet of the -Seven Kings of China” was another. - -“The Joy of Heaven and Earth,” a fête in honour of the Duke’s -birthday in 1624, was followed by “Bacchus triomphant des Indes, avec -une Action en Musique et une Chasse Pastorale,” in the same year. -This was a fête in honour of the Duke Charles Emmanuel’s birthday, -and was performed by the pages of the Prince Cardinal Maurice of -Savoy, at Rome on January 22nd, 1624. - -“Mount Parnassus and the Muses,” “The Quarrel of the Defenders and -the Enemies of the Muses,” took place in February, 1624. “Cadmus, -victorieux du Serpent,” and “Prometheus” were notable ballets in 1627. - -One of the most remarkable, and, according to contemporaries, -beautiful mounted ballets ever composed was that of “Æolus, King -of the Winds,” which Alfonso Ruggieri Sansoverino presented at the -wedding of the Prince of Tuscany in the year 1628 in the St. Croix -Square, in Florence. On one of the sides of this square was a large -reef with a cave hollowed out of its rock and closed by a great door -secured with padlocks. - -Don Anthony de Medici, who took the part of master of the combat, -having reconnoitred the course, Æolus, King of the Winds, entered, -accompanied by twelve watermen to whom he “had taught the use of -sails and the nature of the winds.” Twelve Tritons walked before him -blowing their trumpets. Eight Sirens replied on other instruments, -accompanied by Hoar-frost. Eight pages represented the many effects -of the Winds, causing cold, hot, damp, dry, clear, dull, serene or -cloudy weather. - -The two sponsors walked behind their pages. The chariot of the Ocean -followed, drawn by two big whales. It represented a rock covered -with seaweed, coral and different kinds of shells. Nymphs of the -sea, rivers and springs were seated on this rock, and gave a musical -concert with wind instruments presided over by Dolopea, wife of -Æolus. Æolus, having passed in his chariot and arrived in front of -the Prince’s box, saluted the bride, and after offering her his -kingdom and all his troops, took a lance in his hand; then, suddenly -departing, went and thrust against the door of the Cave of the Winds. -The padlocks broke, and the door being opened, thirty-two mounted men -and a hundred and twenty-eight on foot were set at liberty. The men, -rushing like the winds they represented, ran to the other side of -the square. Here Æolus stopped them and gave them orders to arrange -themselves into a triangular figure. He led them in this order to -salute the Princess for whom the fête was arranged. After having -taken their places, they began to manœuvre their horses in a ring on -the right; they went in single file to make a chain, and sixteen of -them having broken it, they formed a smaller one, from which eight -more detached themselves, making a still smaller one. The first -horsemen, curveting, manœuvred their horses to perform voltes and -half-voltes, joining again without a halt, and, forming twos, fours -and eights, “they mingled capers at the galop, with caracolling in -figures, performing a marvellous labyrinth with their intertwinings -and evolutions.” - -In the year 1628, the students of the College at Rheims danced a -ballet in joyful commemoration of the taking of La Rochelle, the -design of which, after ancient Roman models, was “The Conquest of the -Car of Glory by the great Theander.” - -Unlike modern musical comedy, or “revue,” there purported to be a -plot. The Giants of the Black Tower, trusting in the might of their -magic, published a challenge “full of empty pride,” by which they -summoned all Knights-errant to the conquest of the Car of Glory. - -Lindamor, wishing to chastise the insolence of these fiends, arranges -with three of his friends to go and fight them. The Black Tower is -full of sorceries, and there was no means of opening it, except by -the sounding of an enchanted horn which the Giants had fastened to -the Gate. Lindamor sounds it; the Giants issue forth upon him and his -comrades, and the contest being unequal, Lindamor is compelled to -withdraw and to leave his comrades in the hands of the Giants, who -load them with chains, and fasten them to the Castle Gate to serve as -a trophy to their vanity. - -Some country shepherds who had seen the adventure of Lindamor and -the Giants, persuade Caspis to take a part in favour of these -unhappy knights. This shepherd, who was above the power of all -magic, presents himself before the captives, and first of all breaks -their chains and sets them at liberty. Lindamor, well pleased at the -courtesy of Caspis, discusses with him the means of avenging himself -on the Giants of the Black Tower. He learns from this shepherd that -the sword of Cloridan is necessary for this enterprise, and that, in -order to get it, it is necessary to put to sleep the Dragon to whom -the Giants have given the charge of it. The shepherd offers, himself, -to do this and succeeds. But to get the sword of Cloridan something -more was wanted than to put the Dragon to sleep. The shepherd evokes -the shade of Cloridan to find out from him what must be done to make -use of this sword successfully. - -The shade when called forth, informs him that Theander alone is -capable of using it. The rumour of this oracular response having got -abroad, Vulcan with his Cyclops prepares arms for Theander, who being -preceded by Renown and followed by Lindamor, reaches the place where -the sword of Cloridan is guarded, seizes the sword, after having -chained the Dragon, presents himself with it at the gate of the Black -Tower, causes the gate to open at the sound of the horn, defeats the -Giants, draws from the Tower the Car of Glory, harnesses the Giants -to it and triumphs finally over the arms and the enchantments of his -enemies. - -The story, which smacks of some mediæval romance of Chivalry, was -really allegorical of the capture of La Rochelle. The late king was -Theander; the shepherd Caspis was the Cardinal Richelieu, his prime -minister; Lindamor, the King, Henry III, who, being as yet only Duc -d’Anjou, had attempted this siege in vain. The sword of Cloridan was -that of Clovis; the Black Tower was La Rochelle; and the magic charms -were Heresy and Rebellion. - -Again, in the year 1628, a ballet of “The Court of the Sun,” by an -Abbé Scotto, was danced at the Court of Savoy. Night played the -overture, and at her command spirits and goblins made a “pleasing” -entrance, coming on from different directions. Night, however, -warning them to be careful that Day did not surprise them, they -retired into their caves, when the Morning Star introduced visions -of the Morning, bright Dreams issuing from the ivory gate. The Star -of Venus rose from the sea to announce the arrival of the loveliest -Aurora ever seen, and ordered the Zephyrs to rise and to strew -flowers, the Dew to sprinkle perfumed water and the sweetest and most -healthful influences. - -Aurora followed them, and having descended from Heaven, suddenly -caused the Palace of the Sun (in Ionic architecture) to appear; the -seven Planets and the twelve Hours were seen in niches, from which -they emerged to dance; the Muses in other niches performed concerted -movements, Time, the Year, the Seasons, the Months and the Weeks -providing the music in the boxes of this palace. - -From the last examples, it is seen that philosophic, poetical and -classic allegories were often used as the basis of ballets. The -philosophic were “those in which causes and effects, peculiar -qualities and the origin of things, were expressed in a suitable -story by the devices of the ballet.” Several ballets of this kind -were seen at the theatre of the College of Clermont, principally, -those of “Curiosity,” “Dreams,” “Comets,” “Illusion,” “The Empire of -the Sun,” “Fashion.” In that of “Curiosity” it was desired to show -that the good or bad use made of it contributes to the perfecting or -spoiling of the mind. Curiosity was represented by four characters, -each forming a part of the ballet. The first of these was Useless -Curiosity, which occupies itself only with trifles; the second, -Dangerous Curiosity, which seeks forbidden and harmful things, and it -was shown that these are the two kinds of curiosity to be avoided! - -Among Useless Curiosities, was seen Idleness, with a troop of -loiterers who ran about hunting for gossip and false rumours, merely -to pass the time and “to find out what was going on in the world”; -others who consulted almanacks to discover what the weather would be; -and also sleepers, who, awakening, entertained each other with their -dreams, from which they foretold what was about to happen! Mistakes, -New Opinions, Alchemy, Sorcery, Magic and Superstition were some of -the “characters” in the scene showing Dangerous Curiosity. - -The third and fourth parts showed Useful and Necessary Curiosity, -respectively. Useful Curiosity was represented by travellers whose -desire to learn all about the manners and customs of different -nations drove them into foreign countries; also “by physicians who -work to gain experience.” In Necessary Curiosity was introduced the -art of navigation, instanced by sailors, who, under the guidance of -Tiphys, helmsman of the _Argo_, set out “to discover new worlds”; -another example of “necessary curiosity” being the fire brought -from Heaven by Prometheus for people eager to discover its use. The -poetical allegories were not less ingenious than the philosophic, -although “they did not pretend,” as one old chronicler informs us, -“to so much precision.” - -In the same year at the Savoy Court, “_Alcée_,” a ballet of -fishermen, with _intermezzi_ and some superb presents brought to Mme. -Royale for her birthday by the Prince of Piedmont and his Cavaliers, -was a grand water entertainment in which appeared, to quote an old -historian, “Le Vaisseau de la Felicité accompagné de toutes les -Deitez (sic) avec les Concerts de Musique, des quatres Elemens avec -leur machines; de la Representation en Music (sic), d’Arion, du -Temps avec les années heureuses, des quatres parties du monde avec -des Entrées de Ballets, des quatres Saisons avec le tribut de toutes -leurs douceurs pour le Festin.” This was given by the Duke in honour -of Mme. Royale on her birthday, and it was declared that a fête “plus -complette, plus magnifique et plus agréable” had never been seen. - -“Eternity” was the title of a ballet given in 1629; “Le Temps -Eternel” following next year; “La Felicité Publique” the next; and in -1632, “La Chasse Theatrale, representée en Ballet,” by the Cardinal -of Savoy at his country mansion was given in honour of his brother, -the Duke’s birthday. - -Among the “moral” ballets, there is hardly one more pleasing than -that composed to commemorate the birthday of the Cardinal of Savoy in -1634. The subject of this ballet was “Truth, the Enemy of Appearance, -as proved by Time”--_La Verita Nemica della Apparenza sollevata dal -Tempo_. - -This ballet opened with a chorus of False Rumours and Suspicions, -followed by Appearance and Lies! They were curiously represented by -characters dressed as cocks and hens, who sang a dialogue half in -Italian and half in French, mingled with the cluckings of cocks and -hens. The chorus by the latter ran as follows: - - “Su gli albori matutini - Cot, cot, cot, cot, cot cantando - Col cucurrii s’inchini - E bisbigli mormorando - Fra i sospetti, e fra i Rumori - Cu, cu, cu, cu, cu, cu, cu, - Salutiam del novo sol gli almi splendori.” - -The cocks replied: - - “Faisant la guerre au silence - Cot, cot, cot, avec nos chants, - Cette douce violence - Ravit les Cieux et les Champs. - Et notre inconstant hospice - Cot, cot, cot, cot, cot, coné - Couvre d’apparence un subtil artifice.” - -After this quaint song, the scene opened, and a large Cloud was seen, -accompanied by the Winds. “Appearance” also made her entrance at this -moment. She had wings and a long peacock’s tail and her dress was -hung with a number of mirrors. She was brooding over some eggs, from -which hatched out--Pernicious Lies, Deceits and Frauds, White-Lies, -Flatteries, Intrigues, Mockeries, Ridiculous Lies and Idle Tales! An -eternal crew! - -The Deceits were dressed in dark colours with serpents concealed -among flowers; the Frauds, clothed in hunters’ nets, struck bladders -as they danced; the Flatteries were dressed as monkeys, Intrigues as -lobster-catchers with lanterns in their hands and on their heads; -Ridiculous Lies were represented by beggars who pretended to be -cripples with wooden legs. - -Time, having driven away Appearance with all her Lies, opened the -nest on which she had been sitting and there appeared a great -hour-glass from which Time ordered Truth to come forth; the latter -then calling back all the Hours, danced with them the finale of the -“grand ballet.” - -Surely, the time is ripe for a revival of such a production! - -“Pâris” (1635), “Le Théâtre de la Gloire” (1637) and “La Bataille des -Vents” (1640) were notable productions at the Court of Savoy; but one -of the most interesting of these seventeenth-century entertainments -was that on February 19th, 1640, when at the same Court was given a -“Ballet of Alchemists” in which, under a charming allegory, they made -fun of those seekers of the philosopher’s stone who pretend to make -gold. - -Hermes Trismegistus, dressed as a philosopher, with the master’s -ring, introduces some of the most celebrated chemists of different -nations: Morieno, an Italian; Bauzan, a Greek; Körner, a German; -Untser, a Swede; Calid, a Turk; Sandivoge, a Pole; Raymond Lulli -and Hortulaus, Spaniards; Dolcon and Beguin, Frenchmen; Pierre, a -Lorrainer; Rasis, a Jew; and Geber, an Arab. - -The Italian and the Greek brought in a furnace of five storeys and -octagonal in shape. The German and the Swede brought in the alembics; -the Turk and the Pole came with flowers for distilling, which they -carried in baskets; the two Spaniards brought charcoal; the French -came with bellows to blow up the fire; the Lorrainer carried sieves -for sifting; the Jew and the Arab had in front of them leathern -aprons with various pockets, where they carried alum, vitriol, -sulphur and ingots of metal. - -For the grand ballet they all worked together around the furnace, -whence they drew a thousand pretty novelties to give to the ladies -in the audience--essences, liqueurs, glass jewellery, mirrors, -bracelets, Cyprus powder, paint and other treasures, very much as -presents are given at Cotillons and big fancy dress balls to-day. - -Yet another delightful production of this period must be chronicled, -namely, the “Ballet of Tobacco,” danced at Turin, the last day of -Carnival, 1650. The scene represented the Isle of Tobago, “_from -which tobacco took its name, and gave happiness to the nations to -whom the gods had given this plant_. First entered four High Priests -of that country, who drew forth snuff from certain golden boxes -which they carried, and threw this powder in the air to appease -the Winds and Tempests. Then with long pipes they smoked around an -altar, making of their smoking tobacco a sort of sacrifice to their -favourite Deities. For the second entry two Indians were twisting -into a rope tobacco leaves. Two others were pounding it in mortars -to reduce it to powder, and made the third entrance scene. The -fourth was of snuff-takers, who sneezed and presented the snuff to -each other, taking it in pinches with amusing ceremony; while the -fifth was a band of smokers gathered together in an Academy or place -set apart for smoking, wherein Turks, Spaniards, Poles and other -nationalities received the tobacco from the Indians and proceeded to -take it in their different ways.” - -Such, in brief, were some of the continental ballets of the first -half of the seventeenth century, a period, it must be admitted, not -lacking in ingenuity, or resource in means of entertainment. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE TURNING POINT: LE ROI SOLEIL AND HIS ACADEMY OF DANCING, 1651-1675 - - -For some two centuries Italy had amused herself with Ballet as a -courtly entertainment; and so, during one, had England and France. - -Now, in 1651, it was France who was to give the lead to Europe, for -in February of that year Louis-Quatorze, then a lad of thirteen, -appeared in a ballet by Benserade, entitled “Cassandra,” and this was -the first of many in which he took part until, at the age of thirty, -he withdrew from the stage and gave his farewell performance in the -ballet of “Flora” in 1669. Strange, is it not, to think of a king as -a ballet-dancer? Yet, had not our own King Henry VIII been among the -joyous masquers? - -But Louis XIV was to become more than a mere participant in -Ballet--he was to become the virtual founder of modern Ballet as seen -on the stage; for it was he--universal patron of the arts--who was -to found a Royal Academy of Dance and Music, to the existence and -encouragement of which the modern development of both arts is largely -due. - -All these ballets had been either the principal object or the -supplement of superb fêtes given at Versailles or in the other royal -palaces. Historians have described the fêtes which Fouquet, the -Comptroller of Finances, offered to Louis XIV. As a sidelight on the -Comptroller’s magnificence and extravagance, the following is of -interest. - -The king left Fontainebleau one evening in September, 1660, -with his entire Court, in order to have supper at the castle of -Vaux-le-Vicomte. The route, five leagues long, was illuminated with -waxen torches; and booths, put up at intervals, were laden with all -kinds of refreshment for the travellers. The castle, blazing with -light, seemed to Louis like some palace of faerie. A magnificently -furnished suite was set apart for His Majesty, and the Court was put -up in the minister’s house. An immense sideboard, laden with gold -and silver plate, was a feature of the room in which the king was -to have supper, with a fountain playing in the middle. A splendid -banquet was served, and a band placed in a gallery discoursed sweet -music. Numerous other tables were set out for the Court; and the -whole of the king’s guard, even to the famous livery servants, were -entertained most sumptuously during the two days that the fête lasted. - -After supper the king took a walk by a lake the shores of which were -decorated with orange trees, lemon trees, and pomegranates, planted -in gilded tubs, the fruit being available to all who wanted any. -Thousands of torches diffused a brilliant light. A theatre, built -in the middle of the lake, offered yet further entertainment with a -representation of “The Triumph of Venus,” a ballet of a new kind, in -which Tritons and Nereids, having swum about in the waves, afterwards -proceeded to sing eulogies of King Louis. All the best musicians of -Paris had been added to the king’s orchestra, and they were hidden -behind the scenery of the theatre, and in the neighbouring thickets. -On the following day there was a royal hunt, with tables served at -all the meeting-places. There was fishing in the lake, from which -the net brought in enormous fish; there was a play, then a ball, and -finally fireworks; not to mention the sumptuous and delicate fare; -the exquisite wines and delicious liqueurs which were provided on -the same scale of unlimited extravagance. - -On the first day Louis, whilst admiring the gardens and park from his -window, had remarked on its beauty, but said that the view would be -still more lovely if it were not shut in by a wood of tall trees that -he pointed out. Next morning Fouquet drew the king to the same window -and led the conversation in such a way that Louis might repeat the -remark he had made the evening before. - -“Sire, since that wood has the misfortune to displease you, it shall -fall immediately.” - -Then at a given signal the forest disappeared with a crash as if -by magic, and the royal eye could see to the horizon. Sawn through -during the night and attached to ropes that a hidden army of peasants -pulled all at the same time, the trees fell at the voice of command. - -All this magnificence and extravagance astonished the courtiers, but -served also to arouse considerable suspicion. The king’s brother -remarked that the name of the castle should rather be _Vol-le-Roi_ -than _Vaux-le-Vicomte_. This fête, an act of homage, as imprudent as -it was ambitious, hastened the downfall of its author, and from that -very day his doom was assured. - -Among the many ballets in which Louis XIV himself took part, the more -notable were “Le Triomphe de Bacchus,” “Le Temps,” “Les Plaisirs,” -“L’Amour Malade,” “Alcibiade,” “La Raillerie,” “L’Impatience,” -“Vincennes,” and “Les Amours Déguisés,” as well as some of the -comédie-ballets of Molière. - -Louis represented only the more exalted characters, such as Jupiter, -Neptune, Apollo; though on occasion, to display the variety of his -talent, he essayed an experiment in _genre bouffonesque_. Among the -_entrées_ in the “Triomphe de Bacchus,” for instance, there was one -for some _filous, traîneurs d’épée, sortant du palais de Silène, -échauffés par le vin_, and the King playing the _rôle_ of one of the -“filous,” sang the following stanza: - - “Dans le metier qui nous occupe - Nos sentiments sont assez beaux, - Car nous prisons plus une jupe - Que nous ne ferions vingt manteaux.” - -The Duc Mercour, the Marquis de Montglas, the Messieurs Sanguin and -Lachesnaye, garbed as attendants on Bacchus, addressed the following -verses to the ladies of the Court, and the author had carefully -indicated that they were to be spoken to the “demoiselles”: - - “Il n’est pas mal aisé d’acquérir nos offices, - Et pour y parvenir le chemin en est doux; - Mais vous ne sauriez mieux vous adresser qu’à nous, - Si vous voulez apprendre à devenir nourrices.” - -Copies of the “book” of the ballet are, I believe, extant; and the -designs for the costumes of the actors are still more curious. - -The members of His Majesty’s ballet, if they were not expert ballet -dancers, could at least give ample proof of their nobility. Louis -XIV counted marquises and marchionesses, dukes and duchesses, even -princes and princesses and queens among his subjects, that is, his -dancing subjects. - -It was in 1661 that the king founded the Dancing Academy. A room in -the Louvre was assigned to this learned society, which, however, -preferred to gilded ceilings the smoky walls of an inn having for -its sign “L’Epée de Bois.” It was in this favourite retreat that -the members of the new Academy met together. It was here that the -interests of the kingdom of the _rigaudon_ and the _minuet_ were -regulated, where elections were held, and, without breaking up the -session, without even leaving their academic chairs, dinner was -served to the members on the table where each had just cast his -vote. A tablecloth covered the green cloth; the bottle followed the -inkhorn; supper replaced the ballot-box; and the assembly drank long -draughts to the health of the new member. - -The letters patent for the foundation of the Dancing Academy read -curiously. In the preamble, for instance, the king thus expressed -himself: - -“Although the art of dancing has always been recognised as one of -the most honourable, and the most necessary for the training of the -body, to give it the first and most natural foundations for all -kinds of exercises and amongst others to those of arms; and as it -is, consequently, one of the most useful to our nobility and others -who have the honour of approaching us, not only in times of war in -our armies, but also in times of peace, in the performance of our -ballets, nevertheless, during the disorder of the last wars, there -have been introduced into the said art, as in all others, a great -number of abuses likely to bring them to irretrievable ruin. - -“Many ignorant people have tried to disfigure the dance and to spoil -it, as exhibited in the personal appearance of the majority of people -of quality: so that we see few among those of our Court and suite who -would be able to take part in our ballets, whatever scheme we drew up -to attract them thereto. It being necessary, therefore, to provide -for this, and wishing to re-establish the said art in its perfection, -and to increase it as much as possible, we deemed it opportune to -establish in our good town of Paris a Royal Academy of Dancing, -comprising thirteen of the most experienced men in the said art, to -wit: - - MM. Galant du Désert, dancing-master to the Queen; - Prévôt, dancing-master to the King; - Jean Renaud, dancing-master to His Majesty’s brother; - Guillaume Raynal, dancing-master to the Dauphin; - Nicolas de Lorges; - Guillaume Renaud; - Jean Picquet; - Florent Galant du Désert; - Jean de Grigny.” - -These, let us note, are the names of the patriarchs of the French -dance. - -In 1669 the Abbé Perrin, who was official introducer of Ambassadors -to Gaston, Duc d’Orléans?, having obtained exclusive rights from the -king, went into theatrical management, taking as his colleagues the -Marquis de Sourdeac to direct the scenic and mechanical effects, and -Cambert to supply the music. A certain Champeron advanced the money, -and on March 28th, 1671, “Pomone,” a pastoral in five acts, words by -Perrin, music by Cambert, dances by Beauchamps, was produced at the -theatre of the Rue Mazarine. - -The whole thing was poor, but this did not prevent the house being -crowded for eight months, so that at the end of this time Perrin drew -out thirty thousand francs as his share: but the various members of -the little syndicate disagreed when it came to sharing out. Lulli -profited by their disputes, cleared out Perrin and his partners, -and started again in a disused tennis-court known as the _Bel Air_, -situated in the Rue de Vaugirard, near the Luxembourg. He had as -colleagues Quinault for the poetic libretti, and an Italian named -Vigarani for the mechanical effects, one of the cleverest stage -managers in Europe at the time. They produced there in 1672 the -“Fêtes de Bacchus et de l’Amour.” When Molière died in the following -year, the hall of the Palais-Royal, which he had occupied, was given -to Lulli. - -Louis XIV, by letters patent, dated 1672, concerning the -non-forfeiture of nobility of ladies and nobles who were prepared -to figure in the scene at the opera, authorises his “faithful and -well-beloved Jean-Baptiste Lulli to add to the Royal Academy of Music -and Dancing, instituted by these presents, a school suitable to -educate pupils as much for dancing as for singing and also to train -bands of violins and other instruments.” - -The Sun-King, in fact, exerted his care to such a point that he -himself superintended and wrote with his own hand the budget of the -_corps de ballet_ at the Opera. - - The order is dated January 11th, 1713. - The male dancers were twelve in number. - Their united salaries amounted to 8400 francs. - Two of them had 1000 francs. - Four, 800 francs. - Four, 600 francs. - Two others, 400 francs. - The ten female dancers earned together 5400 francs. - The two principals had 900 francs. - The four seconds had 500 francs. - The four last 400 francs. - -There were besides: - - A master of the dancing-room, at 500 francs. - A composer of ballets, at 1500 francs. - A designer, at 1200 francs. - And a master-tailor, at 800 francs. - -The king busied himself even with the author’s royalties, and it must -be confessed that he showed himself more generous proportionately -towards the authors than towards the artists. According to a rate -fixed by him, a hundred and twenty francs were paid for a ballet -for each of the first ten performances and sixty francs for each -following. - -La Bruyère, author of “Les Caractères,” has spoken of the virtuosi of -the dance who shone in his time, and in criticising their methods, -he sheds light on the difficulties which had already been surmounted -in 1675. “Would the dancer Cobus please you, who, throwing up his -feet in front, turns once in the air, before regaining the floor?” -Again, “Do you ignore the fact that he is no longer young?” says La -Bruyère, when speaking to the susceptible ladies of the Court. It was -Beauchamps or Le Basque, dancers at the Opera, that he meant. The -famous Pécourt is also described under the name of Bathyle. “Where -will you find, I do not say in the order of knights which you look -down upon, but among the players in a farce, a young man, who leaps -higher into the air whilst dancing, or who cuts better capers? As for -him, the crowd is too great, he refuses more women than he accepts.” - -Pécourt, the adored of the beauties of the time, was the favoured -lover of Ninon de l’Enclos. One day, the Maréchal de Choiseul, his -rival, met, at the house of their common mistress, the popular -dancer, who was dressed in what was apparently a uniform. - -“Ah,” said he ironically, “since when have you turned soldier, M. -Pécourt? And in what corps are you serving?” - -“Marshal,” was the reply, “I _command_ a _corps_ in which you have -long _served_.” - -Blondi, Beauchamps’ nephew; Feuillet, Desaix, Ballon, Baudiery-Laval, -and his son Michel-Jean, a good dancer and an excellent mechanical -contriver; Mesdemoiselles Subligny, Prévôt, Carville, and Le Breton, -were also stars of the period, of some of whom there will be more to -say presently. - - - - - BOOK II: THE SECOND ERA - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -SOME EARLY STARS AND BALLETS - - -For some time after the founding of the King’s Dancing Academy the -French Opera stage was ungraced by the feminine form, though women -took part in the performance at some of the minor theatres, such as -the famous Theatres of the Fair in Paris. - -For the entertainment of the more exalted sections of Society the -more exalted ladies themselves performed; at Court, however, _not_ on -the public stage, where, as in our own theatre in Elizabethan times, -youths played the women’s _rôles_. - -Such was the case in the production of a ballet by Lulli and -Desbrosses in 1672, “Les Fêtes de l’amour et de Bacchus,” in which M. -le Duc de Monmouth, M. le Duc de Villeroy, M. le Marquis de Rassen, -and M. Legrand, executed various dances “supported” by Beauchamps, M. -André, Favier and Lapierre, professional male dancers at the Opera. - -Of these the leader was Beauchamps, director of the Royal Academy -of Dancing, composer of, and superintendent of, the Court Ballets -of Louis XIV in 1661, and made _maître des ballets_ to the Academy -in 1671. He danced with the king in the entertainment at Court, -and though La Bruyère says of him, “_qu’il jetait les jambes en -avant, et faisait un tour en l’air avant que de retomber à terre_,” -showing that even in those days the public loved “sensation,” he -was ordinarily a grave and dignified executant. He was one of the -first experimentalists in the direction of inventing a system of -Choreography, or the writing down of dances in a kind of shorthand, -so that a dance once designed should never be lost, but could be -read and repeated as easily as a piece of music. In this he was only -following on the track of old Arbeau, but his system was different, -and, if not ideal, at least it paved the way to a better. Beauchamps -died in 1705. - -Pécourt, who was “_premier danseur et maître des ballets de -l’Opéra_,” made his _début_ only in 1672. His style was what is known -as “_demi-caractère_,” and he is said to have had notable effect on -the ladies of his day, his amazing lightness fairly turning their -heads. - -Blondi, a nephew of Beauchamps; Ballon, who became _maître à danser_ -to Louis XV; Baudiery-Laval, a nephew of Ballon, who succeeded his -uncle as dancing-master to the Royal Family and _maître des ballets_ -at Court; Michel-Jean Baudiery-Laval, son of the last-named, who -was not only a _maître à danser_, but is said to have been the -first stage manager to have used lycopodium powder, which used to -be the chief means of producing stage lightning; these were some -of the lesser stars of the end of the seventeenth and beginning of -the eighteenth centuries in France, and they were to be followed by -Louis-Pierre Dupré, who came to be known as _Le Grand Dupré_, and -who surpassed all his forerunners by the grace and the dignity of -his dancing, and the _noblesse_ of his poses. He made his _début_ in -1720, was long the _premier danseur_ at the Opera, and did not retire -till 1754. - -To hark back, however, to 1672, when there were only men to play -the women’s parts. The reason for the dearth of feminine stars was -quite simple. The Academy was in its infancy. There were no properly -qualified professional _danseuses_, and the courtly amateurs were too -courtly--and too much amateurs--to appear to advantage on the stage. -The Academy came to alter all that. - -It revived a genuine interest in dancing as an art worthy of -serious consideration; and Lulli, that inspired monkey of a -dancing-musician, did the rest; for it was his opera-ballet, “Le -Triomphe de L’Amour,” produced on May 16th, 1681, which brought the -presence of women dancers to the boards. - -Various high ladies of the Court, the Dauphine, la Princesse de -Conti, Mlle. de Nantes, and others, formed a useful background, but -the entire feminine _personnel_ of the dancing school numbered only -four--Mlle. Lafontaine, Mlle. Le Peintre, Mlle. Fernon, and Mlle. -Roland, the first-named being the leader, the _première des premières -danseuses_, and accorded the title so often granted to successive -_premières_ since then, of _Reine de la Danse_. - -That admirable historian of French opera, Castil-Blaze, has given -excellent account of the state of affairs towards the end of the -seventeenth century. - -“The lack of good dancers,” he says, “was doubtless an obstacle in -the way of the introduction of grand ballet at the Royal Academy. -‘Les Fêtes de L’Amour et de Bacchus,’ ‘Le Triomphe de L’Amour,’ -and all productions of the same kind commonly called at that time -Ballets, were really nothing less than Operas treated in such a way -as to give a little more freedom for the introduction of dances, -the singing being nevertheless still the main object. Pécourt, who -made his _début_ in ‘Cadmus,’ shared the honours of the dance with -Beauchamps, with Dolivet, a capital mime, and another good dancer -named L’Etang. The company of singers also included some notable -personalities, and though the functions of singer and dancer were -usually kept pretty well apart, one actress, Mlle. Desmatins, -managed, in the opera of ‘Perseus,’ to score a double success as -singer and dancer, a very unusual combination, as it is seldom indeed -that a dancer is good for much as a vocalist. Vigarani, an Italian -theatrical _machiniste_, of great talent, had charge of the theatres -of the Court; and another Italian, Rivani, and Francis Berein, -fulfilled a similar function with regard to the Opera.” - -Italian ballets, executed by Italian dancers, were among the -favourite diversions of the French Court towards the end of the -seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, which accounts -for the frequency with which they appear in the paintings of Watteau, -Lancret, and other artists of the period. That of “L’Impatience” -had been partly translated into the French in order that Louis XIV -might take part in it, and was, like all the comedy-ballets of the -time, a series of detached scenes quite independent of each other, -merely depicting the various amusing examples of impatience which one -usually finds--in other people! - -The taste, however, for the Italian ballet, by no means interfered -with the development of the native type, which received not only the -support of the nobility, but increasing support on the professional -and technical side, for authors, musicians, and dancers were -beginning to realise that ballet was a form of art which had long -been too neglected, and that it was worthy of attention. - -“Le Temps de la Paix,” represented at Fontainebleau, was given by the -_corps de ballet_ of the newly founded _Académie Royale_, illustrious -dancers and scions of the nobility all taking their share in the -production. The women dancers from the theatre, who mingled with the -princesses and ladies of the Court, were termed _femmes pantomimes_, -in order to distinguish them from the titled _dilettanti_. Among -the amateurs one finds the name of the Princesse de Conti; Duchesse -de Bourbon; such good old names as Mlle. de Blois, D’Armagnac, de -Brienne, D’Uzès, D’Estrées; on the theatrical side such artists as -Hardouin, Thévenard, and the amazing Mlle. de Maupin--heroine of -a hundred wild and questionable adventures--were among the more -illustrious of the singers; while Ballon, whom we have already named, -won applause for the energy and vivacity of his dance, and Mlle. -Subligny was equally admired for the grace and dignity of hers. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -PANTOMIME AT SCEAUX: AND MLLE. PRÉVÔT - - -The mention of Subligny recalls the interesting fact that during the -reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV of France there was a considerable -importation of French and Italian actors, singers, dancers, and -musicians into England. - -We all know the complaints in _The Spectator_ and other journals of -the period against the craze for Italian opera. - -A little earlier than that Cambert, who had been Director of the -King’s Music to the Court of Louis-Quatorze and organist at the -Church of St. Honoré in Paris, and who, after breaking fresh ground -in French opera, was also one of the first to experiment with Ballet, -became attached to the Court of our own Charles II in 1677. He died -in London, whence he had withdrawn out of jealousy towards his -pushing young rival Lulli. - -Desmarets, Campra, Destouches, Rebel, Bourgeois, Mouret and -Monteclair are also names of French composers of opera and ballet, -from about 1693 to 1716, well known to students of musical history, -perhaps their only successor worthy of mention being Quinault, until -all, from Lulli onwards, were to be eclipsed by the greater Rameau, -who was composer of nearly a score of notable ballets, and who -made his appearance on the musical horizon in the ’thirties of the -eighteenth century. - -To return, however, to the dancers. Nivelon was one of the more -famous French dancers who visited London towards the end of the -seventeenth century, and had considerable success; as did another -of the early _danseuses_, Mlle. Subligny, who came to London with -influential introductions to John Locke, of all people in the -world, author of the famous but soporific _Essay on the Human -Understanding_, which, however, omits any reference to that of the -charming dancer. - -It can readily be imagined that the introduction of women to the -French stage made for improvement in many directions besides access -of grace. The little rivalries and successes of women dancers induced -a general spirit of emulation that had its effect on technique. - -Now, following on the introduction of women dancers to the stage, -we come to another interesting point in the history of the dance -and ballet; for, once again, it was due to a woman that we had the -invention--or rather the revival--for it had not been seen since the -days of Bathyllus and Pylades in Augustan Rome--of ballet-pantomime, -a ballet acted entirely pantomimically, or in dumb-show. - -It was the happy idea of the learned and extravagant Duchesse -du Maine, whose _Nuits de Sceaux_ have been chronicled by that -fascinating bluestocking, Mlle. Delaunay, who was later to become -famous as Madame de Staël. - -Among the endless round of fêtes and entertainments at Sceaux, -at the little theatre in which she took such prominent part, the -ever-restless Duchess never presented her guests with a greater -novelty. Day and night--and especially night--they had all been -requisitioned to invent ingenious amusements. Sleep had been banished -from the exigent little Court. Dialogues, “proverbs,” “literary -lotteries,” songs and comedies had been turned out without cessation -as from a literary factory. Always it had been “words, words, words,” -and play on words. Now, for the first time for centuries--as it -_was_, in fact, and must certainly have _seemed_ to the Duchess’s -house-parties!--there was to be silence on the stage at Sceaux. - -[Illustration: The Duchesse du Maine] - -Having chosen the last scene of the fourth act of Corneille’s -“Horace,” the Duchess commanded the composer Mouret to set it to -music as if it were to be sung. The words were then ignored, the -music was played by an orchestra, and the two well-known dancers, -M. Ballon and Mlle. Prévôt, of the Royal Academy, mutely mimed the -actions and emotions of the leading characters, so dramatically and -with such intensity of feeling that, it is said, both they and their -audience were moved at times to tears! - -Françoise Prévôt, or Prévost, was born about 1680, made her _début_ -at the age of eighteen, and when Subligny retired in 1705, took her -place as _première danseuse_. For some twenty odd years she was the -joy of all frequenters of the Opera, for her grace and lightness -of style. She retired in 1730, and died eleven years after. Among -the more famous of her pupils were Marie Sallé and Marie-Anne de -Cupis de Camargo, of both of whom there will be more to say in due -course. Meanwhile, among the dances mainly in vogue during Prévôt’s -earlier period were the _Courantes_, _Allemandes_, _Gigues_, -_Contredanses_; and in her later years, _Chaconnes_, _Passacailles_, -and _Passepieds_. For the dancing of the last Prévôt was especially -famed. - -In the preface to his “_Maître à Danser_,” published four years -after the dancer’s retirement, Rameau describes her in the following -terms: “_Dans une seule de ses danses sont renfermées toutes les -règles qu’après de longues méditations nous pouvons donner sur -notre art, et elle les met en pratique, avec tant de grâce, tant -de justesse, tant de légèreté, tant de précision qu’elle peut être -regardée comme un prodige dans ce genre._” - -Again, Noverre, in his _Lettres sur la Danse_, published later, makes -graceful reference to Prévôt in recalling his impressions of famous -dancers whom he had seen in earlier years, and gives us, too, an -interesting criticism of the methods of the composers of ballet in -the mid-eighteenth century. “_La plupart des compositeurs_,” he says, -“_suivent les vieilles rubriques de l’opéra. Ils font des passe-pieds -parceque Mdlle. Prévôt les courait avec elegance; des musettes -parceque Mdlle. Sallé et M. Dumoulin les dansaient avec autant de -grace que de volupté; des tambourins parceque c’était le genre où -Mdlle. de Camargo excellait; des chaconnes et des passacailles -parceque le célèbre Dupré s’était comme fixé à ces mouvements; qu’ils -s’ajoustaient à son goût, à son genre et à la noblesse de sa taille. -Mais tous ces excellents Sujets n’y sont plus; ils ont été remplacés -et au-delà, dans des parties et ne le seront peut être jamais dans -les autres...._” - -Though Noverre was writing this about 1760, we have to remember -that he cannot actually have seen Prévôt, since he was only born -1727, and _she_ retired in 1730. But he records an interesting -tradition in complaining that the greater number of the composers of -his time still followed the older canon of the opera, and composed -_passepieds_ because “Mdlle. Prévôt _les courait_”; for it shows -that the technique of the dance had already begun to outgrow that -of the composer. Musicians were following in their forerunner’s -tracks; dancers were advancing on the road of invention. Indeed, we -shall see that this was so when we come to consider the differences -between the styles of Prévôt and her later successors. For the moment -it suffices to record that Prévôt, star of the French opera from -about 1700 to 1730, was famous for her elegance, for her “grace,” -“lightness,” “precision,” as revealed in the comparatively slow -dances of her period, when the technique was obviously not immature -(or Rameau could not have noted such qualities in her dancing), but -evidently had not yet developed in the direction of speed, or of -_tours de force_ such as some of the later dancers were to exhibit. -The _passepied_, of which an old French dancer-poet wrote: - - “_Le léger passe-pied doit voler terre à terre_,” - -was a dance in three-four time, a species of minuet, performed, as -the poet records, “_terre à terre_,” hence Noverre’s description: - - “Mdlle. Prévôt les _courait_ avec elegance.” - -A modern versifier has--perhaps presumptuously--put the following -lines into the dancer’s mouth: - - - PRÉVÔT SPEAKS - - “Though others by Courante may swear - Or some the grave Allemande prefer, - Or vow for Gigues alone they care, - Or Contredanse’s vulgar stir: - For me--who am no villager!-- - I love not dances rough and free, - Nor yet too slow! Without demur - The Passepied’s the dance for me. - - “Hark to its gentle, plaintive air! - Was music ever mellower, - More full of grace, more sweetly fair? - No dancer, sure, could wish to err - From the staid rhythms that recur-- - As softly as a breath may be-- - With base like a pleased kitten’s purr: - The Passepied’s the dance for me! - - “No other music now may share, - With this my favour, or could spur - My feet new measures now to dare. - What of Camargo? As for her-- - (Of passing fancies harbinger!) - Quickness, but naught of grace has she. - _She_ dance? That plain, fast foreigner? - The Passepied’s the dance for _me_!” - - - ENVOI - - “_Lovers of dance, let naught deter_ - _Your love from graces all can see_ - _In Passepied! And all aver_ - _The Passepied’s the dance for me!_” - -Of the jealousy which might have impelled Mlle. Prévôt to speak thus -of her young rival Camargo and her quicker style there will be more -to say presently. It is necessary for a while to turn aside (even -to hark back a little, perhaps, since in dealing with a period of -transition there must be several threads to trace back and gather -up), and to glance at another phase of theatrical history than that -of the _première danseuse_ and the august Royal Opera, namely, the -less exalted--and more popular--theatre; one which proved often -the antechamber to the greater stage and Royal favour, to wit--the -Italian Comedy and the Theatres of the Fair. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -ITALIAN COMEDY AND THE THEATRES OF THE FAIR - - -Humanity, like history, repeats itself in its recurring moods. -Some years ago London playgoers went rather mad over what was -a comparatively new thing to that period, the production of a -delightful play without words, namely, MM. Carré and Wormser’s -“L’Enfant Prodigue,” acted to perfection by a cast headed by Mlle. -Jane May, as Pierrot, with Mlle. Zanfretta as Pierrette. - -About two thousand years ago the playgoers of ancient Rome began -to go mad about what was _then_ thought to be a really new -thing--pantomime acting without words. - -The two pantomimists, Bathyllus and Pylades, then set a standard in -mimetic representation never achieved before. The two Roman actors -were “dancers,” but it was because they were panto-mimes of such -brilliant quality that they became famous. Had they been merely -dancers they would hardly have made the impression they did. - -The modern ballet-dancer--as we understand the word--knows, or should -know, that dancing without the ability to mime is not enough to win -the fame of a Taglioni, a Grisi, Génée or Karsavina, in ballet. - -In opera a voice of the loveliest tone, together with an acquired -technical excellence in the use of it, has not the power to move the -hearers if _expression_ is lacking. _It is the art of the mime which -gives expression and significance to the art of the dancer_; and it -was as dancer-mimes that Pylades and Bathyllus moved their audience -to something like worship. - -It is, of course, a pretence, this doing without words. I say -“pretence” because you cannot do away with words. You may have a -“wordless” play, but behind the dumb-show there are still the words. -It is so in life. Behind all things is--the Word. Things are only -representative of thoughts; and thoughts are inconceivable without -words. We may not always speak with tongue and voice; but, if we have -the impulse to speak, the instrument matters not, and we may “speak” -with our hands. So doing, a look or gesture becomes a word, a series -of gestures a sentence. - -Now, in ancient Roman days when the ordinary spoken comedy merged -first into a sort of musical comedy, and then, at the dawn of the -Christian era, into unspoken comedy or pantomime; and when, in -addition, all the Greek plays and stories of the Greek and Latin -myths were drawn upon for pantomime, some of the original characters -stayed and others were incorporated in the general make-up of the -purely wordless play as this form of entertainment grew increasingly -popular; and among the new-comers was probably Mercury, who became a -sort of Harlequin, with gift of invisibility and magic wand. - -The _spoken_ comedy of ancient Rome becoming superseded, first by -the pantomimes and secondly by the craze for the circus, finally -died down with the fall of the Empire itself, and did not revive -for some hundreds of years, until the world’s great reawakening, in -the Middle Ages, to the wonders of the classic past. But it is more -than probable that this dumb comedy, or _panto-mime_, any more than -dancing, _did not die_. - -In Sicily and Southern Italy more especially it would have survived; -for expressive pantomime was always as much a means of speech among -the Southern Latins as verbal language itself. - -In the old Latin Comedy the same set of characters were often made -to appear in other guises, and in different comic situations. Maccus, -for instance, though still called so, would appear at one time as an -old maid, at another as a raw soldier: Pappus would be a doting old -husband, or father whose daughter was abducted: and he was usually -outwitted whatever the situation he was in. These and various other -types, and this custom of making them each a kind of “quick-change” -artist, survived, or at least revived. - -In Italy, as time went by, various local types were added to the -original cast of the pantomime. The old man would be a Venetian; the -Doctor, from Bologna, famous for its University and--poisons; the -Clown would be a peasant-servant from Bergamo; the braggart soldier, -a “Capitan,” would be from Spain; sometimes they would each speak -in their own particular dialect, and fun would be made thereof. -Throughout the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries the -fame of the Italian comedians spread throughout the world. - -Troupes found their way to Paris and London, and no slight traces -of their influence are to be found in Shakespeare and Molière. -Pre-Shakespearean comedy in England was often impromptu and -pantomimic; and the actors worked much as the Italian players had -always done. - -In 1611 a well-known Italian comedian, Flaminio Scala, printed a book -of plays performed by his company. _There was no dialogue!_ They were -simply something like what we know as “plots,” though the French -word “_canevas_” expresses it better. It was merely the outline of -the play, entrances, exits, “business” written on canvas and hung -up in the wings as a reminder to the actors, who “gagged” the play -throughout, each usually introducing his own stock tricks or business -(_lazzi_ was the Italian word) as the play proceeded. In one of the -Flaminio Scala’s plots we find a Pantalon, a Dottore or Doctor, a -Captain (a braggart such as Pistol), a Pedrolino, later to become -better known to us after various changes of spirit as Pierrot. - -In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Paris the Italian players had -a sensational success, being honoured by Louis XIV and his successor; -and were regularly introduced into the lighter operas, were copied by -the players in the Paris Fair Theatres, and were often the subject of -the brush of Watteau and other artists. - -In a little volume I have, _Le Théâtre Italien_ (published 1695), by -the famous actor, Evariste Gherardi, the author explains that “the -reader must not expect to find in this book entire comedies, because -the Italian plays could not be printed, for the simple reason that -the players learn nothing by rote, and it suffices for them merely -to have seen the subject of the comedy a moment before stepping on -the stage.” He says that “the charm of the pieces is inseparable from -the action, and their success depends wholly on the actors, who _play -from imagination rather than from memory, and compose their comedy -while playing_.” - -Among the titles of the plays we find: “Arlequin, Emperor in the -Moon”; “Colombine, Advocate”; “Arlequin Proteus”; “Arlequin Jason”; -“The Cause of Woman”; “Divorce”; and “Arlequin, Man of Fortune.” -In most we find Arlequin assuming various disguises--“_Arlequin -en More_,” “_Arlequin deguisé en Baron_,” “_Arlequin deguisé en -Comtesse_” being among stage directions, for instance, to “The Cause -of Woman.” - -By the early eighteenth century the leading characters had -become Arlequin, Pantalon, Punchinello, the Doctor, the Captain, -Scaramouche, Scapin, Leandre, and Mezzetin; and women had become -incorporated in the generally enlarged cast, the chief being -Isabelle, Octavie and Colombine. - -Reference has already been made to the Duchesse du Maine, who in -1708 revived the art of pure pantomime by producing an act of -Corneille’s “Horace,” which was performed entirely in dumb show by -the dancer-mimes, Mdlle. Prévôt and Monsieur Ballon, to music by -Mouret. - -Soon after, Nivelon, and other dancers who were also mimes, such as -Sallé, began to come to London; and in the early eighteenth century -was seen the birth of the first real English _pantomime_, which bore -some resemblance to that of ancient Rome, owed something to the -Italian comedy and to the more recent French theatre, with certain -new ideas of its own--especially in the way of costume and elaborate -staging. This was due to the enterprise of John Rich. - -By Rich’s time Arlequin had become the all-important character of -the French comedy-stage, and he followed a then recent custom (also -the ancient Latin custom) of placing one character in various sets -of circumstances. His first production at the Lincoln’s Inn Fields -Theatre in 1717 was “Harlequin Sorcerer,” which was followed by -several others with Harlequin as the hero. Their form was always -much the same. A serious, classic or fabulous story, such as one -from Ovid, was the basis of the work; while between the serious -scenes, and partly woven into them, ran a lighter story, consisting -mainly of Harlequin’s courtship of Columbine, with interference from -other characters, on whom in turn Harlequin played tricks with his -magic wand. Rich played Harlequin, and made him dumb, for the simple -reason that, though a clever actor, he could not speak well enough -for the stage. Thus he gave us once again the ancient classic art of -pantomime, which now became the true wordless English Harlequinade; -and he taught his players of the other parts, Pantaloon, Pierrot, -Clown, Columbine, an art of wordless acting equal to his own. He -realised the value of fine mounting, and his productions were -gorgeously staged and almost invariably successful. - -It would be interesting, of course, to trace with some detail the -history of Italian comedy and its influence on the French and English -stage; indeed, to go fully into the vexed question of its origin. -Certain modern scholars, such as Miss Winifred Smith in her extremely -able and interesting volume on the _Commedia dell’ Arte_, issued by -the Columbia University of America, holds the view that it was _not_ -derived from the classic stage at all, but was a spontaneous growth -of fifteenth-century Italy. - -Another view is that there was an unbroken thread of tradition from -Greece, through Sicily and the Greek settlements in south-eastern -Italy, and that when the _Commedia_ attained its great vogue in -the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, spreading through Italy -and thence through western Europe, the charm and complexity of its -texture was due to the numerous strands that had been gathered up -from various localities in the progress of years. - -Yet another possibility is, that this central idea of pantomime, or -dumb acting, may merely have occurred again and again through the -centuries, as a “new” idea, without direct impulse from tradition. - -Personally I feel that acting _without_ words implies a greater -technical advance in the art of representation than acting _with_ -them, for it makes the actor more than merely repeater, or even -interpreter, of an author; _it makes him partly creator, or author_. -It is impossible, however, to go fully now into the question of the -origin of the art of pantomime. Whatsoever diverse theories students -may hold, the fact remains that it _was_ known in classic days, and -that the form of it which we know under the Italian title of the -_Commedia dell’ Arte_ flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries, and certainly had its influence on the French and English -stage, literature and art, and also on Ballet. - -The Duchesse du Maine in her pantomime production of Corneille’s -“Horace” was deliberately harking back to a form of entertainment -which she believed had held the classic stage; and the production -was not without effect on the history of Ballet. The appearance of -Italian pantomime actors in Paris had additional influence. - -Look at some of the pictures of Watteau, Lancret and Fragonard. You -will see there the types of the Italian Comedy; turn to the scores -of the opera-ballets of the early eighteenth century and you will -note that, more often than not, the Italian players were introduced; -just as we to-day, in our _revues_, have introduced Russian dancers, -or English players impersonating, or parodying, the Russians--simply -because the Russians have in recent years attained a vogue similar -to that attained by Italian singers in the ’forties of last century, -and to that attained by the Italian comedy troupes of two centuries -ago. These things are introduced into current dramatic productions -just because they have their vogue, just because they are “topical.” -Equally they influence art and literature. - -Even the French critics seem hardly to have realised the extent to -which French art of the early eighteenth century was influenced -by the contemporary stage. All can see, of course, that it _was_ -influenced, to the extent of introducing the types of Italian comedy. -One has only to glance at Watteau’s “L’Amour au Théâtre Italien” to -see that patent fact. But the fact also that, except for his earlier -landscapes and camp scenes, several of Watteau’s pictures were, in -all probability, _derived from ballets actually seen_ on the French -stage seem to have been overlooked. - -One of the earlier works attributed to Watteau is a picture -representing the “Departure of the Italian Comedians.” The engraving -of it by L. Jacob in the wonderful Jullienne collection of engravings -from Watteau’s works plainly gives the date of the incident as 1697. -Watteau, however, did not arrive from Valenciennes to take up his -abode in Paris until after 1702, when he came to reside and work -with Claude Gillot, the engraver. - -So either this seems a mistake on Jullienne’s part, or the picture is -not by Watteau, but is worked up from sketches and descriptions by -Gillot or some other person who was an eyewitness of the incident; -for it is quite obvious that Watteau cannot have seen what took place -in Paris before he arrived there, and when he was only thirteen years -old, as he would have been in 1697. - -Let us turn aside for a while from this minor problem and consider -who, exactly, were these Italian comedians. From the sixteenth -century, in 1570 as a fact, when Catherine de Medici invited a -company of Italian players to Paris, there had been several troupes -arriving from time to time, under Court patronage. One of the -earliest of importance came in 1576, and were known as _Gli Gelosi_, -_Les Jaloux_, that is, according to one authority, folk jealous of -pleasing; though they may also have been so called from the fact that -they achieved their success first in a comedy of that name, _Gli -Gelosi_, or _Les Jaloux_. - -Nearer the dates which are our concern was Fiorelli’s troupe, which -in 1660 was properly established at the Palais Royal, where they -played alternately with Molière’s company, and received the title of -“_Comédiens du Roi de la troupe Italienne_.” - -In 1684 it was established by order of the Dauphin that the troupe -should always be composed of twelve members, four women and eight -men, made up as follows: two women for “serious _rôles_,” two for -comic, two men for lovers, two for comic parts, two “_pour conduire -l’intrigue_,” and two to play fathers and old men generally. These -kept the traditional names respectively of: Isabelle, Eularia; -Columbine, Marinette; Octave, Cinthio; Scaramouche, Arlequin; -Mezzetin, Pascariel; Pantalon, and the Doctor. - -In 1697, however, the Italian comedians, who by now had begun to -develop, from the _Commedia dell’ Arte_, or purely improvised dumb -show play of an earlier period into a more or less written “literary” -comedy, had the audacity to produce under the title of “La Fausse -Prude,” a play, the title of which seemed to suggest foundation on a -novel (published in Holland) which had attacked the King’s mistress, -Madame de Maintenon. For this they were banished, and were not -recalled to Royal favour until 1716. - -Hence the problem of deciding Watteau’s connection with the painting -of an incident that occurred in 1697, five years before he _can_ -have reached Paris; and also of “placing” the rest of his avowedly -theatrical pictures, when apparently the Italian comedians were -not to be seen, or if seen, _not until 1716_; thus giving Watteau -only five years before his death in 1721 to account for the fairly -extensive collection of works dealing expressly with these stage -types. - -Speaking of the period shortly after Watteau arrived in Paris, one -critic has declared (though it in no way lessens the value of his -decisions concerning Watteau’s art): “Indeed, during these early -years Watteau could have had no opportunity of studying the Italian -comedy, otherwise than through the works of his new preceptor and -friend”: this “preceptor and friend” being, of course, Gillot, by -whose enthusiasm for the stage Antoine’s own was unquestionably -awakened. - -The same writer goes on to say: “It can hardly be doubted that from -him--and not, as legend has it, from the stage itself--Watteau -obtained his first peep into the strange realms of the _Commedia -dell’ Arte_.” - -But the plain fact is that there was every opportunity, despite this -earlier banishment of the Royal troupe of Italian comedians, for -Watteau to have obtained not only his first peep into the realms of -the _Commedia dell’ Arte_ and to have been influenced throughout his -Paris life, especially by Ballet. - -From the time Antoine reached the city in 1702 until his death in -1721 there were four marked opportunities for stage influence, -namely, the legitimate and royally patronised French comedians; the -Opera, still flushed with Lulli’s magic, and not despicably illumined -by Campra; the Ballet, then finding wings to soar; and finally, -the Theatres of the Fair, which, with their gay quarrel against -authority, with their reckless parodies and splendid spectacles, have -been strangely neglected by Watteau’s biographers as a contributory -influence on his choice of subject. - -Let us consider first the Theatres of the Fairs. The fairs -themselves, of St. Germain and St. Laurent, were of ancient -institution, and from early times they had their side-shows of -tumblers, rope-dancers, trained animals, such as performing bears, -monkeys, and white mice, as well as balladists and marionettes, which -were the chief attraction by the middle of the seventeenth century. - -Towards the end of the century each Fair had one or more troupes -of actors, especially Italian, who played improvised pieces in -dumb-show, as well as written farces, vaudevilles and parodies in -Italian, French, and sometimes a mixture of both languages. These -troupes were quite apart from those which from time to time had been -brought from Italy by special invitation from the French Court. - -It was the Royal Troupe _only_ that was expelled in 1697, for its -performance of “La Fausse Prude”; and it was really their expulsion -which aroused the Theatres of the Fair to a new and more vigorous -life. - -[Illustration: The Departure of the Italian Comedians, 1697 - -(_From an engraving by L. Jacob of Watteau’s picture_).] - -[Illustration: Pierrot and Arlequin in the early 18th Century - -(_From Riccoboni’s “Histoire du Théâtre Italien”_).] - -The Fair of St. Germain was open from February 3rd to Easter Sunday; -the Fair of St. Laurent began at the end of June and closed in -October, so that for the greater part of the year both offered -opportunities for amusement of a less expensive and more popular sort -than did the aristocratic Comédie Française and Comédie Italienne; -in fact, so popular were they that, on suppression of the Comédie -Italienne, the aristocracy themselves patronised the foreign troupes -of the Theatres of the Fair. - -From the dawn of the eighteenth century, however, this very -popularity became a source of worry to the managers of the troupes -at the Fairs, for it involved the jealousy of the Comédie Française -and the still youthful Opera; and the attempts of grandiose Authority -to smother these minor theatres (which had public sympathy wholly -on their side) and the amazing resource shown by their managers in -meeting each fresh legal thunderbolt by some new and more hilarious -evasion, is a veritable comedy in itself, but must not detain us -now. All we need to consider at the moment is that, despite attempts -to suppress them there _were_ these troupes, at the Theatres of the -Fair, from before 1702, when Watteau came to Paris, until after 1721, -the date of his death. - -There was the troupe of Madame Jeanne Godefroy, widow of Maurice Von -der Beck, from 1694 to 1709; that of Christopher Selles, from 1701 -to 1709; that of Louis Nivelon (who, by the way, was a theatrical -visitor to London), from 1707 to 1771; that of Saint-Edmé from 1711 -to 1718; and, most important of all, that of Constantini, known as -Octave, from 1712 to 1716. - -Thus from the time he arrived in Paris Watteau could, for a few -pence, have seen any of these companies, and in view of the fact -that the first thing any young man up from the country usually does -is to see the “sights” of the town, and more especially in view of -the fact that soon after his arrival Watteau was in the studio of -Gillot--popular engraver of such popular subjects, and himself a -lover of the stage--what was more probable than that Antoine _did_ -include the Theatres of the Fair among the sights he saw, and so was -influenced to choose, as some of the earlier subjects of his brush, -the Italian players he _could_ see there. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -WATTEAU’S DEBT TO THE STAGE - - -The stage has from time to time been indebted to Watteau for costume -and _décor_. But Watteau’s debt to the stage of his period, to the -Opera, to the Italian Comedy, and to the Theatres of the Fair, has -hardly been considered sufficiently. Here is not the place to bring -forward all the evidence that could be produced. Only an indication -of some of the leading possibilities can be given. But while the -subject has an interest of its own, on the purely critical side, it -is also of interest to students of the ballet, for they may trace in -some of the famous French pictures of the early eighteenth century -the influence of ballet on contemporary art. Again, history “repeats -itself” to-day, for have not many artists of our own time found -inspiration in many of the productions of the Russian ballet? - -It is interesting first to compare Watteau’s picture of “L’Amour au -Théâtre Italien” with the reproductions given here from an old volume -in my possession, Riccoboni’s _Histoire du Théâtre Italien_, which -was not published until six years after Watteau’s death, but which -may be regarded as a contemporary work since it describes the stage -of his time. - -These prints represent the various types of the Italian comedy as -they were actually costumed, and comparing these with the figures in -Watteau’s group, one sees in their close resemblance proof that the -master was painting from things seen, from life itself (albeit stage -life), not some graceful creations of his own imagination, as some -of us to-day have been too apt to think. - -In “L’Amour au Théâtre Italien” we have a faithful record of -costumes actually worn; but the whole attitude of the group of -figures suggests something vastly more than merely an artist’s study -of costume. The figures are alert, the moment dramatic. Something -is happening, or rather has happened, and there is a suggestion -of culmination, as if the interruption of a song by the entry of -a character had called forth, or was about to call forth, some -whimsical comment from Pierrot, the singer. It seems a captured -moment in a comedy. - -Comparing it with the obviously companion picture, “L’Amour au -Théâtre Français,” one might well be somewhat puzzled by the title, -since in neither is there any apparent love-scene taking place. The -one suggests an interruption in a comedy, the other--a dance in -progress. - -Beneath the engravings of these two by C. N. Cochin in the Jullienne -collection, however, are inscribed a couple of six-line stanzas, one -beneath each, in which the treatment of love themes in Italian and -French comedies respectively is contrasted. - - - L’AMOUR AU THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS - - “L’amour badine en France; il se montre un grand jour - Il ne prend point de masque, il se parle sans detour; - Il vit dans les festins, aux plaisir il s’allie, - C’est une liberté que le noeud qui nous lie - Nous servons sans constrainte e Bacchus e l’Amour. - Et nos tristes voisins nous taxent de folie. - - M. ROY.” - - - L’AMOUR AU THÉÂTRE ITALIEN - - “La jalouse Italie effrayante les amours, - Les fait marcher de nuit, les constraint au mistère - Mais une Serenade y supplie aux discours; - Un geste, un sel regard conclud on rompt d’Affaire, - L’impatient Francois en intrigue préfere, - Des chemins moins couverts, les croyée--vous plus courts? - - M. ROY.” - -These stanzas are by Roy, a contemporary poet who was a librettist -for the Opera, two of whose operas were produced in 1712. - -One thing is certain, that Watteau’s own eyes must have noted the -contrast between the Italian and French comedy to have painted such -pictures. He could not have painted them without being an observant -theatre-goer. What, then, did he see, and when could he have seen -such productions as might suggest such works? While acknowledging -that positive evidence is still to be sought, I cannot help feeling -that these two pictures, and one or two others, could fairly safely -be placed as work done about 1711-1712. - -In 1709 Antoine, still with Audran at the Luxembourg, competed for -entry, and was admitted with four other students, for the Academy. -Then he left Paris for Valenciennes, defraying expenses by selling a -military picture, “Départ des Troupes,” to the dealer, Sirois, who -urged him to paint a similar picture, which he did at Valenciennes. - -[Illustration: L’Amour au Théâtre Italien] - -[Illustration: L’Amour au Théâtre Français - -(_From the Jullienne engravings from Watteau, British Museum_).] - -There is no direct evidence that Watteau painted any stage-pictures -_before_ this period; and it would seem that his work in the country -was mainly on military and naturalistic subjects. We _do_ know that -he was again in Paris at a date uncertain in 1712, and went to live -with a Monsieur Crozat, by whom he was engaged to paint a series of -panels of The Seasons. It is extremely likely that he would have -returned to Paris refreshed by his country sojourn and with a new -zest for work, _and_ for theatre-going, which was then beginning to -be particularly interesting, a crisis in the Fair Theatre troubles -being over by 1710, and some new productions there as well as at -the opera being well worth seeing. - -As I would trace his movements, still admitting that positive -evidence is required, Watteau returned to Paris early in 1711, took -up his quarters for a time with Sirois the dealer, who would have the -disposing of work done at Valenciennes. One of his first pictures -of this period was probably “Gilles and his Family,” in the Wallace -collection, which is supposed to be a portrait of Sirois dressed as -a Pierrot or Gilles (the names being synonymous at the period) in a -costume supplied by Watteau’s own wardrobe. - -Then would come visits to the Fairs of St. Germain and St. Laurent, -whence he would return reinspired with a love for the gay, reckless, -satiric Italian comedy. - -One has only to compare the Hertford House “Gilles” with the central -figure of Pierrot in the “L’Amour au Théâtre Italien” to see that one -is an earlier work and is the figure of a man somewhat self-conscious -and not quite used to the clothes he is wearing; the other a maturer -work, representing a vivid impression of a born comedian, momentarily -master of the scene. Doubtless at this time, too, would be done some, -but only some, of the remaining works dealing with the Italian stage -types, such as “Les Jaloux,” “Arlequin Jaloux,” “Comédiens Italiens,” -and “Pierrot Content.” A little after, I think, would come such works -as “Arlequin et Colombine,” (in the Wallace collection), “Mezzetin,” -and the maturer “Gilles,” in the Louvre. - -In 1712 there were at the Theatres of the Fair in Paris two famous -players of Gilles or Pierrot, namely, Hamoche, who made his _début_ -in that year with the St. Edmé troupe; and Belloni, who was also a -lemonade-seller, quite a popular character, notable, as one chronicle -tells us, “for the grand simplicity of his acting and for his naïve -and truthful speech.” - -The most famous of the players of Arlequin was Pierre-François -(otherwise Domenique) Biancolelli, who was also of the St. Edmé -troupe, somewhere between 1710-1712. - -Thus it was not unlikely that Watteau saw these actors, as he may -have seen another, Delaplace, as Scaramouche, and Desgranges, who -came to Paris from Lyons, in 1712, as “the Doctor”; though the -Mezzetin offers a minor problem in that Angelo Constantini, the most -famous impersonator of the character, after suffering banishment with -the Italian comedians in 1697, went to Poland, where an intrigue -with the Queen resulted in his imprisonment for twenty years, by -which time Watteau was no more. Him, therefore, Watteau cannot have -seen. But the character was a familiar one on the stage at the time, -1710-1712, and must have been played by other popular actors, even if -not of sufficient note to be chronicled. - -To turn from the Italian actors to other theatrical characters which -form the subjects of some of Watteau’s pictures, it is of interest -to note that one of the engravings in the Jullienne collection -represents “Poisson en habit de paysan.” Poisson was a familiar -name in the annals of the French stage, for it was borne by three -generations of Parisian actors, Raymond Poisson, who died in -1690, Paul, his son, and François, grandson. Watteau’s picture is -presumably that of the second, Paul. - -Another interesting point to note is that a portrait of Raymond -Poisson, painted by Netscher, was engraved by Edelinck (who was -employed by Watteau’s employer--Audran) and represents the actor -in the character of Crispin, one of his most famous parts (that of -a sort of black-dressed Pierrot, a messenger distinguished by his -long boots, worn by Raymond Poisson to increase his stature), which -was successively played by his son Paul, and grandson François, and -became a traditional type. - -Watteau cannot have seen Raymond, who died twelve years before the -artist came to Paris, but he may well have seen Paul, and it is -significant that he should have drawn a figure representing _not_ -“_Poisson en habit de Crispin_” (whose costume was now a tradition) -but “_en habit de Paysan_” as if it was the very fact that the part -was one different from that especially associated with the Poisson -family which made it of interest to Watteau. - -In connection with the same portrait there is one point that is -particularly noteworthy, namely, _that it is exactly like the central -figure in “Le Concert,” or “Les Charmes de la Vie” in the Wallace -collection_; and close consideration of the latter inclines me to the -belief that the picture represents--as certain others not unusually -so considered may well do--a scene from an opera. - -Another of the engravings in the Jullienne collection of “Mdlle. -Desmares en habit de Pelerine.” Mlle. Desmares was a well-known -Danish actress; and “pelerines” appear in Watteau’s “L’Embarquement -pour l’Ile de Cythère.” - -One has only to pass in review a succession of Watteau’s works, or -reproductions thereof, to notice how very frequently he repeats -himself in matters of detail. In a general way, for instance, it is -curious to note how frequently dancing and music are repeated in -the course of his life’s work. In “L’Amour au Théâtre Français” is -a couple dancing; in the “Bal sous une Colonnade” another; in “Le -Contrat de Mariage” and its variants--another, and very similar; in -“Le Menuet” (at the Hermitage, Petrograd) another; in “Amusements -Champêtres” (Chantilly), and in the “Fêtes Vénitiennes” (Edinburgh) -are more such couples; while there is, of course, the dainty single -figure of the child in “La Danse,” in the Royal Palace, Potsdam; and -the famous “L’Indifférent,” in the Louvre, also represents a young -man dancing. Dancers and musicians are thus a constant theme for -Watteau’s brush. - -There are, however, more distinctive and more curious repetitions -to note than these obvious evidences of a general taste for music -and the dance; the repetitions of figures or groups in particular -positions, and of details in _mise en scène_. - -The well-known “Joueur de Guitare,” in the Musée Condé, reappears -_in almost exact facsimile_ in “La Surprise” (in Buckingham Palace) -and also in the “Fête Galante,” or “Fête Champêtre,” in the Royal -Gallery, Dresden. - -The couple in “La Gamme d’Amour” is simply a detail from the centre -of the “Assemblée dans un Parc,” in the Royal Gallery at Berlin. The -musician in “La Leçon de Musique” (Wallace collection) is repeated in -“Le Concert,” also in the Wallace collection. - -To turn now to details of _mise en scène_, it is curious to note that -the pillars seen in the last-named picture also occur in the “Bal -sous une Colonnade,” in the Dulwich Gallery. - -The reclining statue to the right of the picture, known as “Les -Champs Elysées,” in the Wallace collection, is another, presumably an -earlier version of the “Jupiter and Antiope,” in the Louvre. - -The statuette and amorini in the “Fête d’Amour” at the Dresden Royal -Gallery are variants of those in the “Embarquement pour l’Ile de -Cythère”; while the terminal statue of Pan seen in the “Arlequin et -Colombine,” in the Wallace collection, reappears again and again in -the Italian Comedy series. - -[Illustration: Le Concert - -(_From the painting by Watteau, Wallace Collection_).] - -[Illustration: La Leçon de Musique - -(_From the painting by Watteau, Wallace Collection_).] - -To some, unaware, perhaps, of the influence which the stage of -Watteau’s time was exerting in other directions, these comparisons -may possibly seem unnecessary. But in considering the extent to which -that influence may have expressed itself in the painter’s work, it -is just these details which, taken in conjunction with the trend of -theatrical taste at that time, are likely to be of importance. There -was never an artist yet--whether in colour, sound, or spoken or -written word--who created a new world out of nothing. The spirit -of art can only find its expression in the manipulation of existing -material. Every work of art must surely be the culmination of a long -series of impulses due to external stimuli the connection of which, -perhaps over a lengthy period, consciousness has failed to analyse -and memory to record. - -Now Watteau’s work as a whole exhibits the frequent repetition of -certain _motifs_, but they were never of something he can never -have seen in reality. It was not automatic reiteration of some -pictured or imagined type, group or material object. His earliest -impressions of stage-life, it is true, may well have been those -conveyed by the prints or paintings of his master Gillot. But there -was _no necessity_ for him to subsist for the rest of his life for -inspiration on second-hand impressions. - -When, therefore, we find in works _other_ than those avowedly -theatrical, a repetition of certain details which _are_ found in -those dealings obviously with the theatre, it may be conceded, -perhaps, that the direct influence of stage scenes and stage effects -upon his art was somewhat more extensive than might be thought -merely from a study of those pictures which are ostensibly studies -of dramatic types and subjects; and for an instance we may take the -introduction of a group of Italian comedians among the bystanders in -the “Bal sous une Colonnade,” already referred to. They need a little -looking for amid so many figures, but when discovered one might -question what Pierrot, Arlequin and their fellows are doing “dans -cette galère.” - -When we come, again, to consider the picture called “Le Concert” (in -the Wallace Collection) and find, in the central figure, a striking -likeness to another picture by Watteau of “Poisson” in the costume -of a peasant: and observe also a repetition of a scenic detail such -as the terrace-columns, which are similar to those of the Colonnade: -further noting that the treatment of the distance between these -same columns is strangely suggestive of the flatness of a stage -“back-cloth,” it begins to seem not improbable that we have here a -pretty faithful translation of actual stage scenes. - -In one of these, the “Fêtes Champêtres,” also known as “Les Fêtes -Vénitiennes” (in the National Gallery, Edinburgh), it is possible -that we have a clue. - -Can it be mere coincidence that from 1710--the year after Watteau had -become a student at the Academy--one of the most popular and most -frequently revived ballets at the Opera was Campra and Danchet’s “Les -Fêtes Vénitiennes?” - -True, Watteau must be presumed to have been at Valenciennes from -about the end of 1709 until shortly before 1712, when he took up his -abode with Crozat, but the ballet was revived again _in_ 1712; not to -mention a _pastiche_ called “Fragments de Lulli,” which included an -_entrée_ entitled “La Vénitienne,” produced in January, 1711, which, -as has already been suggested, was the more likely time than 1712 for -Watteau’s return to town after his stay at Valenciennes. - -At this time, in any case, there were several productions at the -Opera which may have easily proved an influence in the thoughts of -an impressionable young artist. It was in 1712 that two operas were -produced, namely, “Créüse l’Athénienne” and “Callirhoé,” the libretti -of which were by Roy, whose stanzas form the inscriptions already -referred to as appearing under the engravings of “L’Amour au Théâtre -Français” and “L’Amour au Théâtre Italien.” - -In one of the few of Watteau’s letters quoted by the Goncourts is -one to Gersaint in which Antoine accepts an invitation to go “avec -Antoine de la Roque,” and dine next day. It is not insignificant that -the first opera of which De la Roque was librettist was produced in -April, 1713, and entitled “Médée et Jason.” - -[Illustration: Les Plaisirs du Bal - -(_From the Jullienne engravings from Watteau, British Museum_).] - -To return, however, to “Les Fêtes Vénitiennes.” The score of this -ballet, or rather “opera-ballet,” was published by the great French -printer Ballard in 1714, and an examination of it reveals further -possibilities of its having influenced not only the picture of -the same name, but the “Bal sous une Colonnade,” “Le Concert,” -and possibly others of Watteau’s composition, just as yet others -might have been partly inspired by Monteclair’s ballet “Les Fêtes -de l’Eté,” published in 1716, and Bertin’s “Les Plaisirs de la -Campagne,” published in 1719. - -“Les Fêtes Vénitiennes” was in four acts or _entrées_, with a -prologue. The third act was entitled “De l’Opéra,” and opens with a -music-lesson, practically the rehearsal of a duet between Léontine, -the prima-donna, and her music master, just before the production -of a miniature opera; and the fourth is headed “Du Bal.” The stage -directions for this are: “_Le Théâtre représente un lieu préparé pour -un Bal_”; and in a bragging duel between the music-master and the -dancing-master the latter boasts: - - “Je scais l’art de tracer aux yeux - Les sons qui frappent les oreilles,” - -which the other counters by saying that he can raise a storm -musically, which he proceeds to do, giving a musical representation -of the rising wind, of thunder, and so on. This, however, is by -the way. The one thing important is that there _are_ these two -acts devoted to illustrating the charms of music and the dance, -that the opera contains an “air pour les Arlequins,” an “air des -Polichinelles,” an “air Champêtre,” and closes, as several other -ballets of the period also did, with a sort of _divertissement_, -introducing the Italian players, and a general gathering of all -the _dramatis personæ_ on the stage while the dances of this -_divertissement final_ are in progress; all of which suggests the -“Bal sous une Colonnade” of Watteau. - -Monteclair’s “Les Fêtes de l’Eté” is of special interest in that -it was produced in 1716. In 1717 Watteau, after requests from the -Academy authorities, painted his diploma picture, the immortal -“Embarquement pour Cythère.” It would seem that Monteclair’s ballet -contains the first suggestions which culminated in that picture. - -It is in three acts, with a prologue, and the stage directions for -this are: “_Le Théâtre représente une Campagne dont les beautés -commencent à fletrir: Le Printemps y paroit environné d’Amants et -Amantes qui lui font la cour._” In the course of the act one of the -lovers, expatiating on this charm of their surroundings, sings: “_Et -la mère du Dieu des Amants a quitté Cythère pour ces lieux charmés._” - -The second act has the following stage directions at the start: “_Le -Théâtre représente un relais de chasse, on y voit un char doré, -une Meute et une partie de l’equipage des Chasseurs._” One of the -characters introduced is a young man, Lisidor, who is remarkable for -his indifference to feminine charms, and might well be the origin -of Watteau’s exquisite “L’Indifférent.” Another of the characters, -Dorante, is counselled to imitate him; and in a discussion between -Agatine and Cephise, the former is advised by the latter “_pour -s’assurer de ce qu’on aime, la feinte indifférence est d’un puissant -secours_.” - -In 1730, by the way, a play was produced at the theatre of the St. -Laurent Fair called “L’Indifférence,” in which the hero preaches the -doctrine of indifference to love! Watteau, of course, cannot have -seen this play, but it is significant that both in 1716 and 1730, the -stage should be found dealing with what was evidently a current type -of character. - -[Illustration: Mlle. Desmares en habit de Pèlerine - -(_From the Jullienne engravings from Watteau, British Museum_).] - -[Illustration: L’Embarquement pour l’Ile de Cythère - -(_From a photograph, by E. Alinari, of Watteau’s painting in the -Louvre_).] - -In the third act of Monteclair’s ballet, the opening directions are: -“_Le Théâtre représente les Rives de la Seine. On voit le soleil prêt -à se coucher_” (which might possibly account for the soft, warm tone -of Watteau’s Embarquement) and one of the characters comes to warn -some lovers with a song: “_Tendres amants, la Barque est prête_”; -and the ballet concludes with a _dance divertissement_, as was usual -at the period. - -One cannot dogmatically assert that these operas _did_ directly -inspire the pictures named, but that Watteau caught his first -suggestion of some from such performances as his own taste and his -association with a theatrical and musical set would have led him to -frequent, must seem, at the least, probable. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -_THE SPECTATOR_ AND MR. WEAVER - - -Queen Anne had long been dead, but she can never have been very -lively when alive, for her period was one when political intrigue, -theological controversy, and the War of Spanish Succession were -the chief subjects that occupied everybody’s attention, especially -her own, and--could anything be duller? Moreover, she was of -somewhat portly proportions, had a solemn husband, and--unlike Queen -Elizabeth--was really no dancer. - -With such a queen on the throne, at such a time of stress, can it -be wondered at that theatrical dancing was at a comparatively low -ebb? Why, there were only two theatres, Drury Lane and Lincoln’s Inn -Fields! and they were striving hard to outdo each other--in dullness. - -Indeed, it was not until practically the close of Queen Anne’s reign -that stage-dancing began to come to its own; for though the craze for -pantomimes (and his importation of French dancers) started by John -Rich in Anne’s last year, were mainly responsible for this, I cannot -help thinking that Steele and Addison’s ever lively _Spectator_, -together with the works of Mr. John Weaver, had considerable effect -in rousing the attention of playgoers as to the possibilities of -dancing on the stage; for while there are four papers in _The -Spectator_ in which dancing as a _social_ accomplishment is -discussed, Steele, in one of them, makes the interesting suggestion -that “It would be a great improvement, as well as embellishment to -the theatre, if dancing were more regarded, and taught to all the -actors”; and another calls special attention to _An Essay towards -an History of Dancing_, by John Weaver (a 12mo. volume published -in 1712), who was also author of a very interesting _History of -Pantomimes_. These literary efforts cannot have been without their -influence on current taste in things theatrical. - -Before the appearance of _The Spectator_, however, Addison had made -amusing reference to a dancing-master in one of his papers for _The -Tatler_. The date is 1709. He heads it as written “From my own -Apartment, October 31,” and goes on: “I was this morning awakened by -a sudden shake of the house; and as soon as I had got a little out of -my consternation, I felt another, which was followed by two or three -repetitions of the same convulsion. I got up as fast as possible, -girt on my rapier, and snatched up my hat, when my landlady came up -to me and told me that the gentlewoman of the next house begged me to -step thither, for that a lodger she had taken in was run mad; and she -desired my advice; as indeed everybody in the whole lane does upon -important occasions,” he slyly adds. - -With much detail and delightful humour Addison goes on to describe -his adventure, at greater length than can be given here. Suffice it -to say that he went in next door and upstairs, “with my hand upon the -hilt of my rapier and approached this new lodger’s door. I looked -in at the keyhole and there I saw a well-made man look with great -attention at a book and, on a sudden, jump into the air so high that -his head almost touched the ceiling. He came down safe on his right -foot, and again flew up, alighting on his left; then looked again at -his book and, holding out his right leg, put it into such a quivering -motion that I thought he would have shaken it off.” - -Eventually, of course, he discovers the lodger is a dancing-master, -and on asking to see the book he is studying Addison “could not make -anything of it.” Whereupon the _maître_ explains that he had been -reading a dance or two ... “which had been written by one who taught -at an academy in France,” adding the interesting comment “that now -articulate motions, as well as sounds, were expressed by proper -characters; and that there is nothing so common as to communicate -a dance by a letter.” Ultimately Addison begs him to practise in a -ground-room, and returns to his own residence “meditating on the -various occupations of rational creatures.” - -To return, however, to the later publication, _The Spectator_, in -which Addison was also assisted by Steele and other writers of such -varied character as Motteaux (debauchee, tea-merchant and translator -of _Don Quixote_), Ambrose Philips (whom Swift nicknamed “Namby -Pamby”), and Isaac Watts--the famous hymn-writer. In a comparatively -early number a short note introduces in very learned fashion a -quaint letter purporting to be from “some substantial tradesman -about ‘Change,’” in which the writer grows querulous over the way in -which his daughter (who “has for some time been under the tuition of -Monsieur Rigadoon, a dancing-master in the city”), has been taught to -behave at a ball he takes her to. - -With some of the dancing the old man is delighted, as he is with the -art generally, but presently he has to complain: “But as the best -institutions are liable to corruptions, so, sir, I must acquaint -you that very great abuses are crept into this entertainment. I was -amazed to see my girl handed by and handing young fellows with so -much familiarity,” and he finds that fault especially with “a most -impudent step called ‘Setting.’” - -There can be little doubt, however, that the good citizen was shocked -by a dance that was probably quite innocuous, and only seemed to -suggest a familiarity of behaviour unusual to his prim eyes, viewing -a ball-room for the first time. - -Almost the whole of one issue of _The Spectator_ is taken up with a -letter from John Weaver, to whom Steele gives a fine advertisement by -not only printing the letter _in extenso_, but introducing it with -sapient comments from himself. One point he makes somewhat recalls to -mind the complaint of Arbeau’s young friend, the law-student Capriol, -who had grown dusty over his studies. - -Speaking of dancing, Steele says: “I know a gentleman of great -abilities, who bewailed the want of this part of his education to -the end of a very honourable life. He observed that there was not -occasion for the common use of _great_ talents; that they are but -seldom in demand; and that these very great talents were often -rendered useless to a man for want of small attainments.” One can -hardly perhaps consider dancing to-day as a “small attainment,” -however it may have been considered in the reign of Queen Anne. - -Weaver’s own letter is too long to quote in its entirety, but I -cannot refrain from giving at least the following, since, while -speaking of his own work, he offers incidentally several peculiarly -interesting glimpses as to the state of the art in 1712. - - “MR. SPECTATOR, - - “Since there are scarce any of the arts or sciences that have - not been recommended to the world by the pens of some of the - professors, masters, or lovers of them, whereby the usefulness, - excellence, and benefit arising from them, both as to the - speculative and practical part, have been made public, to the great - advantage and improvement of such arts and sciences; _why should - dancing, an art celebrated by the ancients in so extraordinary a - manner, be totally neglected by the moderns, and left destitute of - any pen to recommend its various excellencies and substantial merit - to mankind?_ - - “_The low ebb to which dancing is now fallen_ is altogether owing - to this silence. _The art is esteemed only as an amusing trifle_; - it lies altogether uncultivated, and is unhappily fallen under the - imputation of being illiterate and ‘mechanic.’ And as Terence, in - one of his prologues, complains of the rope-dancers drawing all the - spectators from his play; so may we well say, that capering and - tumbling is now preferred to, and _supplies the place of, just and - regular dancing in our theatres_. It is, therefore, in my opinion, - high time that someone should come to its assistance and relieve it - from the many gross and growing errors that have crept into it, and - overcast its real beauties; and to set dancing in its true light, - would show the usefulness and elegance of it, with the pleasure and - instruction produced from it; and also lay down some fundamental - rules, that might so tend to the improvement of its professors, and - information of the spectators, that the first might be the better - enabled to perform, and the latter rendered more capable of judging - what is (if there be anything) valuable in this art. - - “To encourage, therefore, some ingenious pen capable of so generous - an undertaking, and in some measure to relieve dancing from the - disadvantages it at present lies under, I, who teach to dance, - have attempted a small treatise as an _Essay towards an History of - Dancing_; in which I have enquired into its antiquity, origin and - use, and shown what esteem the ancients had for it. I have likewise - considered the nature and perfection of all its several parts, and - how beneficial and delightful it is, both as a qualification and - an exercise; and endeavoured to answer all objections that have - been maliciously raised against it. I have proceeded to give an - account of the particular dances of the Greeks and Romans, whether - religious, war-like or civil; and taken particular notice of - that part of dancing relating to the ancient stage in which the - pantomimes had so great a share. Nor have I been wanting in giving - an historical account of some particular masters excellent in that - surprising art; after which I have advanced some observations on - the modern dancing, both as to the stage, and that part of it - so absolutely necessary for the qualification of gentlemen and - ladies; and have concluded with some short remarks on the origin - and progress of the character by which dances are writ down, and - communicated to one master from another. _If some great genius - after this would arise, and advance this art to that perfection it - seems capable of receiving, what might not be expected from it._” - -All modern students of dancing will be interested especially in the -passages I have italicised in the foregoing excerpt, for one gets -a significant glimpse as to the state of theatrical dancing (they -had no native _ballet_) in London during the reign of Anne; such a -contrast to Paris, where Louis XIV’s _Académie Royale de la Danse_ -was beginning to bring forth “rare and refreshing” fruit and the -Ballet was beginning to be understood as a genuine work of art. - -“The art is esteemed only as an amusing trifle!” In an earlier paper -had not “Mr. Spectator” introduced the subject with a little apology -for dealing at all with a reputedly trivial theme, and had he not -backed himself up with scholarly reference to classic writers on the -Dance, such as Lucian? - -Oh! Anne! That the art should have been, in your reign, “esteemed -only as an amusing trifle!” And when you might have followed a royal -example and, emulating your contemporary Louis, ennobled the art by -founding an English “Royal Academy of Dancing.” - -Well, Weaver, at any rate, knew that the art was something more than -an “amusing trifle” when he wrote almost prophetically: “If some -great genius after this would arise and advance this art to that -perfection it seems capable of receiving, what might not be expected -from it.” What would he have said had he lived to see the triumphs of -Noverre, of Blasis, and of the British, French or the Russian Ballet -of modern times? - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -A FRENCH DANCER IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON - - -We have seen that the state of dancing in England was nothing to -boast of in the early eighteenth century. We have seen that London -had not yet what Paris had had some fifty years--State-aided Opera -and Ballet. - -But the public appreciation of art was there all the same, and an -astute manager of that day was as capable of realising, quite as -well as any modern, that where there was no home supply it might be -profitable to import foreign talent. - -Strange, is it not, that there was not then, any more than to-day, -anyone clever enough, apparently, to realise that since foreign -talent would prove attractive to a dance and spectacle-loving -public (had not the English proved their innate love of spectacle -in Elizabethan times?) it _might be less expensive and still more -profitable, to encourage native talent_. Still that is our way. -We let the foreign artist discover England, and then discover the -foreign artist. We never seem to discover ourselves. We shirk the -horrible revelation that the English really are an artistic, an -art-loving nation. But whatsoever the foreigner may have or have -had against us, he can never accuse us of lack of enthusiasm, of -indifference to his efforts to please. - -In the early eighteenth century--French actors, dancers, and -acrobats; in the later eighteenth and mid-nineteenth--Italian -opera singers and ballet; in the later nineteenth--light French -Opera (at the Criterion, Gaiety and Opera Comique); and in the -twentieth--Russian Opera and Ballet; these London has had, and more, -and always greeted with generous praise and enthusiastic approval. -Whatsoever may be said of the English as a nation of “shopkeepers” -slow to adopt new ideas, there is nothing small or hesitating about -their adoption and praise of foreign art and artists; and so it was -that the delectable French dancer Mlle. Marie Sallé, one of the two -chief pupils of the famous Prévôt, found a warm welcome when she -visited London in the reign of George I. - -Mlle. Sallé, born in 1707, was the daughter of one minor theatrical -manager, niece of another, and made her first appearance at the age -of eleven in an opera-comique by Le Sage--author of the lively “Gil -Blas”--entitled “La Princesse de Carisme,” at the St. Laurent Fair, -in Paris, in 1718. She spent the next few years in touring, or, when -not on tour, in playing at the Fair theatres in Paris. It is just -possible that Watteau may have seen her as a young girl at the Fair -theatres before he died in 1721. That, however, though pleasant -to contemplate as a possibility, is less our concern than the -circumstances of her _début_, and her subsequent appearance in London. - -“La Princesse de Carisme,” a romantic-satirical, three-act musical -comedy, dealt with the love-affairs and adventures of a Persian -Prince and his boon companion and “confident”--Arlequin. There was -some charming music in it, and so great was its success at the -theatre of the St. Laurent Fair that it was put on at the Opera in -Paris by Royal command. - -By the year 1718, it will be remembered, old Christopher Rich had -died, leaving his theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London to his -son John Rich, who made himself famous and increased his wealth -by producing the first pantomimes ever seen in the great metropolis, -which were mounted on the stage with all the attractions of gorgeous -scenery and dresses, grand “mechanical effects,” appropriate music, -and striking ballets; the various acts of the spectacle being -interspersed with a comic or serio-comic element, supplied by the -eternal love-affairs of Arlequin and Columbine. - -[Illustration: Marie Sallé - -(_From an engraving by Petit after a picture by Fenouil_).] - -This form of entertainment became so popular as to rival seriously -the power of London’s two chief theatres, Drury Lane and Haymarket, -mainly through Rich’s enterprise in securing all the best -opera-singers, dancers, acrobats and other performers from the -Continent. In fact, he may fairly be described as London’s earliest -music-hall manager, for the entertainment provided at the Lincoln’s -Inn Fields theatre was much like that of a modern variety house. It -was thus he came to engage Mlle. Sallé and her brother, who made -their first appearance here as dancers in an English comedy, “Love’s -Last Shift,” in October, 1725. - -Next year also they appeared in London, and in April, 1727, Mlle. -Sallé was given a complimentary benefit, in which she and her brother -introduced some of their youthful pupils. In that same year she made -her _début_ at the Paris Opera, where she remained till, for some -obscure reason, she broke therefrom, and in October returned to -London, once more under John Rich’s management. - -The reason for the break may have been that professional jealousy did -not give her the place which her talents should have justified; or -may have been over the question of costume-reform, which was a matter -of burning interest to some of the younger spirits in those days. -Or it may have been merely as the result of managerial changes at -the Opera in 1728. But whatsoever the reason, what Paris lost London -gained, and her greatest triumph here came at the end of 1733, when -she made her first appearance at Covent Garden, following it up with -still greater success in the spring of the following year, when she -achieved a striking success in a classic ballet, “Pygmalion,” in -more or less correct costume, instead of in the absurdly befrilled -garb, with laced cuirasse, powdered hair and plumed helmets, which -were considered _de rigueur_ on the stage at that absurdly artificial -period. - -Marie Sallé was not only a dancer of exquisite lightness and grace, -she was a woman of taste and sense, and, forestalling Noverre’s fight -on the same ground, had tried to bring about costume-reform at the -_Académie Royale_ in Paris, only to find that those in authority were -strong in--authority, _and_ convention! She rejoiced, therefore, in a -return to London, that gave her more scope for the expression of her -artistic ideas, and two ballets of her own composition, “Pygmalion” -(February, 1734) and “Bacchus et Ariane” (March, 1734), were mounted -with more regard for classic feeling. Her appearance in both caused -a furore. Royalty came to Covent Garden on the nights she danced. -The whole town flocked to see her, and numerous duels were fought by -ardent young gentlemen who trod on each other’s toes when jammed in -the crowds that endeavoured to enter the theatre. - -Mlle. Sallé must have been a woman of character. In a loose era she -was cordially detested by her stage colleagues in Paris for her -virtue! It was such a reflection on them that one should not be as -they! - -Another aspect of her is revealed in a significant little anecdote. -The great Handel, having admired her in Paris, had offered her three -thousand francs to appear at Covent Garden, and specially composed -for her a ballet, “Terpsichore.” Hearing of this, Porpora, Handel’s -great rival and manager of the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, promptly -offered her three thousand guineas, and had the tact to suggest that -she might accept it as she had not yet signed a contract with Handel. -To which proposal Sallé replied with quiet scorn: “And does my word -then count for nothing?” - -London was delighted with the novelty of Mlle. Sallé’s ideas in the -production of Ballet, and with the personal grace of the young dancer -herself. One of the older historians of the dance has described her -in the following glowing terms: “_Une figure noble, une belle taille, -une grâce parfaite, une danse expressive et voluptueuse, tels étaient -les avantages de Mademoiselle Sallé, la Taglioni de 1730._” - -As an influence in the revolution of the Dance and Ballet she might -perhaps not incorrectly be described as the Isadora Duncan of her -period. True, she did not dance barefoot, but she came to loosen the -bonds of tradition, and to free the spirit of the Dance from the -stiffening conventionalities which had grown up around Ballet as seen -at the Paris Opera. In London she had greater freedom, and--greater -success; indeed, so triumphant was her final season that when she -did return to Paris she was welcomed by Voltaire with the following -verses: - - “Les Amours, pleurant votre absence, - Loin de vous s’étaient envolés; - Enfin les voilà rappelés - Dans le séjour de leur naissance.” - -In yet another poem he pays tribute to her virtue in describing her -thus: - - “De tous les cœurs et du sien la maîtresse, - Elle alluma des feux qui lui sont inconnus. - De Diane c’est la prêtresse - Dansant sous les traits de Vénus.” - -Later there was to come a change and the idealistic young dancer was -to be attacked for the very virtues her adoring poets--for Voltaire -was not the only one--had celebrated. Her austerity got on the -Parisian nerves! A more modern scribe has pictured her thus: - - - SALLÉ - - “The perfect dance needs music sweet - As dreams; seductive, so the feet - Are led to move as by some spell; - Or music as of murmuring shell. - True dance shows naught of haste or heat, - Nor trick, nor any kind of cheat. - Beauty and Joy, twin souls, should meet - To make that lovely miracle, - The perfect dance. - - “A field of wind-kissed waving wheat; - A swaying sea, scarce waked to greet - The dawn; clouds drifting; these things tell - What dance may be--if it excel. - Men said they saw in hers complete, - The perfect dance!” - -But if the Parisians did not quite appreciate her as they should have -done at first, her return to Paris after her London successes was -triumphant. Her portrait was painted by Lancret; her every appearance -was greeted with enthusiasm. - -She remained at the Opera for some years, retired therefrom in -1740, but made frequent appearances after, at Versailles and at -Fontainebleau, until a few years before her death in 1756. - -It is interesting to think that her personal dignity had won her -the respect, and her beauteous art the homage of London before her -qualities came to be recognised in Paris. It is possibly just the -suggestion of austerity about her performance that appealed to the -London audience. She had a poetic distinction above the average. -She was an expressive _mime_, and her dancing was marked by supreme -refinement, a magnetic reserve, a strange suggestion of pictured -stillness, an exquisite simplicity and grace. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -LA BELLE CAMARGO - - -Some say that Camargo had no right to be described “La Belle.” -Contemporary accounts of her appearance differ. It was a time when -people took sides, and duelled for their opinions. - -It is a curious fact that several famous dancers have been of -questionable beauty--at least, as to face, and when in repose; for -it is another curious thing that no dancer ever did or possibly ever -could, look plain when dancing, that is, if dancing really well. The -animation or gentle grace of the dance, whether quick or slow, seems -inevitably to confer a beauty that otherwise might not be apparent. -This fact in itself would appear to suggest that in dancing, as in -other arts, and in life itself, it is the “spirit which quickeneth”; -and, where that sufficiently illumines the body, what the body itself -may otherwise be profits little. - -But if some of her more jealous colleagues may have found Camargo too -dark for their taste--“swarthy,” said some--you may in turn criticise -her critics and see for yourself what she was like if you go to view -her portrait by Lancret, in the Wallace collection in Hertford House. - -Marie-Anne de Cupis de Camargo was born at Brussels early in April, -and baptised in the parish of St. Nicholas--it is well to be exact in -matters of such importance!--on the 15th of that month, in 1710. - -She was the daughter, and first child, of a gentleman who had “seen -better days”--and, through his daughter, was to see them again. At -the time of her birth he was a teacher of music and dancing, and was -employed by, or dependent on, the Prince de Ligne. Through her father -the little dancer claimed descent from an exalted Roman family, which -from time to time had given a bishop, an archbishop, and a cardinal -to Holy Church; while on her mother’s side she was descended from a -famous and ancient Spanish house. - -Romance was ever ready to find in the earliest years of a popular -star predictions of future fame, and it is probably only romance that -tells how Camargo danced, on hearing a violin played, when she was -but six months old! - -It is rather more certain, though, that her first lessons were from -her father, and that under his tuition she did well enough, by the -time she was nearly ten, to deserve the patronage of the Princesse -de Ligne, when that lady paid the expenses of some few months’ study -under the then famous Mlle. Prévôt. - -Even so she must have been remarkably precocious, for before she -was eleven she had returned to Brussels finished enough to achieve -a remarkable success on her first appearance. An auspicious _début_ -was followed by an engagement at Rouen, but, through no fault of -Marie-Anne be it said, the manager failed. - -As the Camargo luck would have it, however, there was a new director -at the _Académie Royale_ in Paris, by name Francine, and from him the -little dancer received the welcome chance of appearing at the Opera, -where she made her Paris _début_ on May 5th, 1726, in “Les Caractères -de la Danse,” and achieved an instant and emphatic success. - -Over the new-comer the impressionable capital fairly lost its head, -and soon every fashion--shoes, hats, fans, coiffures, everything--was -“_à la Camargo_,” of which craze relics survive, for even to-day we -have Camargo shoes. Such a threatened eclipse of her own popularity -not unnaturally made poor Prévôt--now about forty-six, and having -been before the public over twenty years--furiously jealous, and -for the next year or so Marie-Anne’s progress was made difficult -by intrigue, and ere Paris set its seal of favour on her art by -imitating her fashions, the young dancer had to find herself more -than once occupying the comparative obscurity of the “back row.” - -Her chance came, though, when one of the famous male dancers, -Dumoulin, for some reason failed to make his entry, and Camargo, in -a sudden devil-may-care mood, taking up his cue, leapt forward and -went through his dance with such dazzling brilliance and won such -universal acclaim that henceforth any intrigue for the suppression -of the youthful artist was impossible, and it was Prévôt, not -Marie-Anne, who eventually had to go. - -While Sallé--also a pupil of Prévôt--was making a bid for fame in -London, Camargo was taking Paris by storm, and creating another of -which she was temporarily the unhappy centre. Furious at this second -obtrusion on the public notice Mlle. Prévôt bitterly upbraided her -pushing young pupil, refused to give her any more lessons, and even -to dance with her in an _entrée_ in which the Duchesse de Berri had -asked her to appear. - -A well-known male dancer of the Opera, seeing Camargo in tears, said -to her: “Leave this severe and jealous mistress, who seeks only to -mortify you. I will give you lessons, and will compose the _entrée_ -which the Duchesse requires and you shall dance in it.” Under the -careful direction of Blondi the young dancer--then only sixteen--made -rapid progress. She combined _noblesse_ and brilliance of execution, -with grace, lightness, and a gaiety which was natural to her--on -the stage. One who had seen her described her in the following -terms: “_C’était une femme d’esprit; fort gaie sur la scène et fort -triste à la ville; qui n’était ni jolie ni bien faite, mais légère, -et la légèreté était alors un mérite fort rare. Elle exécutait -avec une extrême facilité la ‘royale’ et ‘l’entrechat’ coupé sans -frottement...._” - -There was for a little time considerable rivalry between Sallé, -Camargo and a third young dancer named Roland, of whose record -history has been neglectful. But the rivalry was testified by an -anonymous scribe whose verses may be translated as follow: - - “Of Camargo, Roland, Sallé - The connoisseurs have much to say! - One holds ’tis Sallé’s grace that tells, - And one--Roland in joy excels. - But each is struck by the display - Of nimble steps and daring way - Of Camargo. - - “Equal the balance ’twixt the three - But were I Paris, forced to choose, - Only I know I could not use - But crown the dance, sublime and free, - Of Camargo.” - -There was of course the inevitable tribute from Voltaire, whose poem, -apart from the ingenuity with which he divides his favours between -the rival stars, is of unusual interest, since it gives a useful -impression of their contrasted styles in apostrophising the dancers -thus: - - “Ah! Camargo, que vous êtes brillante! - Mais que Sallé, grand dieux! est ravissante! - Que vos pas sont légers, et que les siens sont doux! - Elle est inimitable, et vous êtes nouvelle; - Les nymphes sautent comme vous - Et les Grâces dansent comme elle.” - -It is all safe praise of course, but when we separate the qualities -one finds that he is only versifying the current opinion--Camargo -is “brillante,” her steps are “légers,” and the “nouvelle” refers -less to _her_ than to the novelty of her steps, with the clever -invention of which she delighted her audience; and the nymphs, you -observe, “_sautent_ comme vous,” an appropriate phrase for one whose -_entrechats_ amazed a generation to which such things were new. On -the other hand, Sallé was “ravissante,” her steps were “doux”; she -was “inimitable,” and “les Grâces _dansent_ comme elle,” a point of -special significance when we recall the historic distinction between -the words _sauter_ and _danser_. - -Voltaire’s admiration was not exactly fevered--could the icy -“intellectual” ever have been that? Not so the rest of Paris. -Rumour soon gave her countless lovers--as it will a pretty actress -to-day?--but history does not record that she succumbed to their -protestations. Certainly duels were fought on her behalf; but -probably she was unaware that she was the cause; and certainly she -did not provoke them. _Was_ she a pretty actress? Setting aside the -opinion of her feminine contemporaries, unbiased colleagues thought -not. Yet painters such as Lancret, Vanloo, and Pater sought for the -honour of depicting her graceful figure and--was it her face? Well, -as to actual features perhaps she was not faultlessly beautiful, -but with that mingled Italian and Spanish blood, even if she were -swarthy as some said, she must have been striking, temperamental, -full of fire and “interesting” as we might say to-day. Much of her -fascination must have been in expression, and one feels that she had -that quality which often makes a dancer--sheer joy in dancing. - -[Illustration: M. Ballon and Mlle. Prévôt - -(_After an engraving [reversed] in the Bibliothèque de l’Opéra_).] - -[Illustration: Camargo - -(_From the painting by Lancret in the Wallace Collection_).] - -Her style was noted by contemporaries as combining quickness with -grace to a degree not previously achieved, and she won special credit -for her invention of new steps. Her improvisation of new dances -was remarkable, and it is important to note that she was the first to -perform an _entrechat_, which, only for the benefit of non-dancing -readers, may be described as the step in which a dancer actually -crosses her feet rapidly while in mid-air. This historic innovation -took place in 1730, and she could make four crossings; while eight -are said to be as many as any dancer has since performed. - -Another interesting point to note is that until the advent of Camargo -the ballet skirts reached nearly, or quite, to the ankles. She was -the first to shorten it, not, of course, to the brevity one can only -regret has been too often seen since, but to such degree as to enable -the steps to be better seen and the dancer to have greater freedom of -movement. Her favourite dances were the _Tambourin_, _Gavotte_, and -_Rigaudon_, or _Rigadoon_, as it is known in English. But for all the -shortening of the skirt and the rapidity of her steps, Marie-Anne was -never accused from departing from modesty, grace, and refinement of -deportment. - -A curious personal characteristic was, that while on the stage -she was the incarnation of gaiety, yet in private life she was -for the most part strangely grave, and even sad; though, with all -the advantages of talent, position, and wealth of which she was -possessed, it might have been expected she should be quite otherwise. -No one ever discovered the reason. One imagines it to have been that -modern disease, “the artistic temperament,” and a steady perception -of the pitiful fact that all stage triumphs are but transient; and -that, popular as she might be, and was, on her retirement in 1751, -her fame would not long endure after her death, which actually -occurred in 1770. Yet to-day she lives for us in Lancret’s exquisite -picture, for all to see who visit Hertford House. - - - CAMARGO SPEAKS - - “Talk to me not of poor Prévôt, - With all her peevish airs and graces; - Her day is past! ’Tis sad, I know, - But then--we cannot _all_ be aces! - ’Tis time she learned her proper place is - A little lower in the pack; - For all in favour now _my_ pace is: - Of Rigaudons I have the knack. - - “Though some still like a vogue that’s slow, - Formal, and stiff, the present craze is - All for the dance that has some ‘go;’ - And Minuet enjoys all praises. - But yet my dance the more amazes, - And none can follow on my ‘track,’ - As step with swift step interlaces. - Of Rigaudons I _have_ the knack. - - “When in my aerial flight I go, - High leaping, see the people’s faces! - How round their eyes begin to grow, - And what a shout each one upraises! - Perchance some jealous girl grimaces. - But what of that! when, smiling back, - I see the one thing _she_ betrays is-- - Of Rigaudons _I_ have the knack! - - - ENVOI - - “_But oh! one fear my soul abases._ - _Time will some day my fair limbs rack!_ - _Who then will reck that now the phrase is--_ - _‘Of Rigaudons I have the knack’?_” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -THE HOUSE OF VESTRIS - - -It is recorded that during one of the many revolts indulged in by -the dancers of the Paris Opera against managerial control, which -incidentally meant, of course, State and Royal control, some of the -leaders were sent to Fort l’Evêque--including Auguste Vestris. - -So melodramatically pathetic was the farewell scene with his father, -Gaetan, that even his colleagues laughed! “Go my son,” said _le Diou -de la Danse_. “This is the most glorious moment of your career. Take -my carriage, and ask for the cell which was occupied by my friend the -King of Poland. I will meet every expense.” - -And the great Gaetan is said to have added, with an air of injured -dignity, that this was the first time in history that there had been -“any difference of opinion between the House of Bourbon and the House -of Vestris!” - -What _was_ the--“House of Vestris?” Well, it was a fairly numerous -one, of which, so far as our interest is concerned, Gaetan was -virtually the founder. He had a father it is true, who, being -employed, it is believed, in a Florentine pawnbroker’s, got into some -trouble and with his young family “cleared” to Naples. There being no -trains, “wireless” or Scotland Yard in those days, they stayed there -in safety for a while; the children, who had been taught music and -dancing, being made to exercise their talents in that direction for -their general support. - -Palermo was the next move, where two of the girls, Marie-Therese and -Violante, with one of the sons, Gaetan, entered the Opera. After -that they seem to have scattered and travelled over most of cultured -Europe, appearing now in one opera house, now in another, and always -deeply engaged in love affairs. It is with their arrival in Paris, -and with Gaetan more especially that we now have to do. - -He was one of the eight children of Thomas Vestris and his wife, -_née_ Violante-Beatrix de Dominique Bruscagli, but only of three of -the family have we much record, namely, Gaetan and the two sisters -already mentioned. - -Gaetan-Appolino Balthazar Vestris was born at Florence in April, -1729, and in importance--though far from it in physique--was the -Mordkin of his era. There, however, the resemblance ceases. - -He was a little man, with the biggest ideas of his own talents. -But his size did not detract from his merits, his sheer style as -a dancer; and from all accounts he is to be ranked as one of the -finest male dancers the world has ever known. Indeed, it is hardly an -exaggeration to say that he is one of the most important factors in -the history of the modern dance and that his influence as a teacher -is seen to-day in the real classic school, that is, the school -which is based on ages of tradition. For Gaetan was in his time the -supreme leader of the Dance, and undoubtedly gave a new standard and -tradition to Paris, the influence of which spread to every Opera -House on the Continent. - -He is a link in a chain. One of the first dancing masters to assist -Louis XIV in establishing his Royal Academy of Music and Dance--and -modern theatrical dancing dates from that event--was Beauchamps, -whose pupil was “the great” Dupré. _He_ taught Gaetan Vestris. Gaetan -in turn taught his son Auguste, of whom, in his later years, Carlotta -Grisi was a pupil, and there may be some to-day who have studied -under pupils of Carlotta Grisi, who herself died comparatively -recently. - -According to a contemporary biographer Gaetan made his _début_ at -the Royal Academy of Music and Dance “_sans retribution_,” in 1748; -entered there for study in 1749, became a solo dancer in 1751, a -Member of the Académie Royale de Danse in 1753; _maître de ballet_ -in 1761 until 1770, and composer and master of Ballet from that year -until 1776. - -From time to time he visited Stuttgart--as the Russian dancers to-day -have visited London--in vacation, and in the theatre there under the -direction of that master of ballet-composition and stage reformer, -Jean Georges Noverre, found greater scope for his artistic abilities -than in the more conventional work of the Paris Opera. - -We have seen that by her invention of new and rapid steps, Camargo -infused new life into the technique of theatrical dancing some years -before the rise of Gaetan Vestris to supremacy. He, in turn, came to -bring a new influence mainly in the direction of a certain _largeur_ -of movement and gesture, a certain grandiosity, as well as setting a -new standard in perfection of execution. - -A contemporary critic declared: “When Vestris appeared at the Opera -one really believed it was Apollo who had come to earth to give -lessons in grace. He perfected the art of the Dance, gave more -freedom to the ‘positions’ already known, and created new ones.” - -Undoubtedly he learnt much from Noverre, even as the latter had -learnt much from David Garrick. Noverre conceived the idea of -creating the dance with action, in short, the ballet-pantomime; at -least its creation was claimed, and by some of his contemporaries, -attributed to him; though we have seen that he had forerunners -in the Duchesse du Maine, and, too, in Sallé, who was an ardent -stage-reformer and seems to have influenced Noverre. But it was the -latter who took practical steps towards instituting the real ballet -in action, the true ballet-pantomime as we have seen it to-day. - -Up to this time, opera-ballet had had a somewhat rigid form: there -were music, singing and dancing; but the dances were detached items -in the general effect. The regulation form was: _passe-pieds_ in the -prologue; _musettes_ in the first act; _tambourins_ in the second; -_chaconnes_ and _passacailles_ in the third and fourth. - -In all this it was not the plot of the opera which decided the -introduction of the dances, but quite other considerations, such as -the particular excellence of particular dancers in their special -dances--the best performers usually appearing last. It was routine, -not the action of the story by which these things were ordered; and -the poet who had provided the plot, the musician who had composed -the music, the costumier and scenic artist, and even the ballet -master, each worked detachedly, without regard to consultation and -cooperation towards an artistic unity of effect. - -The lines had been set, the routine laid down for all time; any -deviation therefrom seemed impossible, a thing vainly imagined only -by a heretic, who could not hope to win in a fight against the -established form and authority of the Opera. Yet the reformation -came. Noverre, the reformer, found in Gaetan Vestris a technical -exponent who responded to his influence; and in Dauberval, another; -and at Stuttgart the time and place for artistic experiment. It is -to this triumvirate that credit was given in their own time for -the reform of the _scène chorégraphique_, a reform which had to -struggle against and overcome tradition, prejudice, ignorance and the -obstinacy of authority. Slow progress was made at first. Stuttgart -had its effect, but the Paris Opera still clung to the bizarre -accessories which were then regarded as inherent to the dignity of -the theatre--the masks, under which the faces were hidden, the -towering wigs by which the heads were bowed; the absurd panniers; the -puffed skirts; the great breastplates, all forming the heroic panoply -by which the leading histrions were known for hero and heroine, and -traces of which may be found in those spangled figures beloved of our -grandfathers and grandmothers in their childhood, during the first -half of last century. - -[Illustration: Gaetan Vestris - -(_From an old print_).] - -Gaetan Vestris was the first dancer who dared to discard that -absurd convention--the mask, and so reveal that expressive play of -feature which made _acted_ ballet possible. This was in 1770, when -he appeared in a ballet-pantomime on the story of _Medea and Jason_. -He astonished the audience by the dramatic force of his miming and -by the nobility of his physiognomical expression. One critic wrote: -“_Le mérite particulier de Vestris, c’était la grâce, l’élégance et la -délicatesse. Tous ses pas avaient une pureté, un fini dont on ne peut -se faire une idée aujourd’hui et ce n’est pas sans quelque raison -qu’on compare son talent à celui de Racine._” - -For all his artistic talent as dancer and mime, however, Gaetan was -practically illiterate; ignorant of all save the art in which he -excelled; and his conceit was colossal. - -One day, when he was coming from a rehearsal at the Opera, a somewhat -ample lady happened, in passing, to tread rather heavily on one of -his feet. In deep concern she apologised profusely, and expressed an -earnest hope that she had not seriously hurt him. - -“Hurt me, Madam!” he answered. “Me? You have merely put all Paris -into mourning for a fortnight!” - -His pride in his son was stupendous, and he once declared that, “If -Auguste occasionally descends to touch the earth it is merely out -of consideration for the feelings of less talented colleagues.” As -to himself, on one occasion he volunteered the assertion that his -century had produced but three really great men--Frederick the Great, -Voltaire and himself! - -Of the many susceptible ladies who succumbed to the questionable -fascination of this “_Diou de la Danse_”--as in his Italianate-French -he called himself--the most notable--apart from his legitimate wife, -the beautiful _danseuse_ Heinel, whom he married in 1752--was Mlle. -Allard. - -Born of poor and none too honest parents, Marie Allard first drew -breath on August 14th, 1742, at Marseilles, where at an early age she -entered the local theatre. On the death of her mother, she decided -to leave a disreputable father and made her way to Lyons, where she -found another not very brilliant theatrical engagement. At the age of -fourteen, tiring of Lyons, she set out to win fame in Paris, where -she entered the Comédie Française. In the course of time, she came to -know Gaetan Vestris, and with him she studied dancing. - -She made her _début_ at the Opera in June, 1761, and delighted the -audience with the verve, grace and gaiety of her dancing. Though she -shone especially in comedy, she was noted as a clever actress in -tragedy; and while “Sylvie,” in the comedy-ballet of that name, was -one of her most successful parts, she is said to have moved beholders -to tears by her performance in Noverre’s “Medea.” - -In the lighter _rôles_, however, she was especially popular, and from -the moment of her _entrée_ (she was the only dancer at the Opera who -was allowed to compose her own _entrées_, not edible!) her gaiety of -manner was such as almost to eclipse the real talent displayed in her -dancing. - -Unfortunately, her public career came to a close all too soon for -her admirers, from a cause which even she with all her agility -and incessant exercise, was unable to control--a tendency to -_embonpoint_! She retired in 1781, and died in 1802; not before she -had seen the success of her and Gaetan Vestris’ son, Auguste, who, -known as Vestr’-Allard, seemed to combine within him the respective -choreographic perfections of mother and father. - -Gaetan Vestris, having retired in 1782, lived until 1808, and -rejoiced to see his son acknowledged as supreme. On him he graciously -conferred the title of _Le Diou de la Danse_; and he declared that -it was, after all, only natural that Auguste should excel, since the -young man possessed one advantage over himself--he “had Gaetan for -his father!” - -Auguste, or Marie-Auguste, to give his full name, was born at -Paris in 1760. He made his _début_ at the age of twelve in a -_divertissement_ entitled “Cinquantaine” with a _chaconne_, which he -danced in a manner such as had never been seen. In 1773 he made a -strikingly successful appearance as Eros in the ballet of “Endymion;” -and though already recognised as a master he entered the Academy -school in 1775 and the Opera in the following year. For some time he -accepted subordinate _rôles_, but gradually his consummate ability in -all he undertook brought him forward, and as he became more and more -the pet of the ladies of the Opera and the admiration of its patrons -he began to develop his father’s traits, especially conceit. - -On one occasion the Director, de Vismes, annoyed at some impertinence -of the young man, said, “Monsieur Vestris, do you know to whom you -speak?” - -“Yes,” Auguste replied, “to the farmer of my talent.” - -It says much for that talent that his appearance at the Opera during -some thirty-five years, under Louis-Seize, the Republic and the -Empire, largely accounted for its prosperity in those amazing times. - -He had his father’s grace, precision, suppleness, and style, but -more spirit and vivacity; a greater gift of mime; and was as good in -_genre_ as in the nobler _rôles_. He paid several visits to London, -always with success. - -He married in 1795, a young dancer, Anne-Catherine Augier, who had -made her _début_ at the Opera two years before under the _nom de -théâtre_ of _Aimée_, but his infatuation for her modesty and charm -and many good qualities did not last any longer than had his other -infatuations for worse qualities in less desirable ladies, and his -infidelities led her to attempt suicide, with results that left -her more or less an invalid until death put an end to her unhappy -existence in 1809. Auguste Vestris himself died in 1842, and left -one son Auguste-Armand. He made his _début_ at the Opera, as did a -cousin, Charles Vestris, both being pupils of Auguste; and both went -abroad; but neither added greater brilliance to the family name than -had been achieved for it by first Gaetan, and then Auguste, the first -and most distinguished upholders of the House of Vestris. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -JEAN GEORGES NOVERRE - - -Supreme above all other writers on the dance and ballet is Jean -Georges Noverre, whose genius has been praised by Diderot, Voltaire, -by D’Alembert, Dorat, and by David Garrick, the last of whom -described him as “the Shakespeare” of the dance. - -Born at Paris in April, 1727, he was the son of a distinguished Swiss -soldier, who had served as an adjutant in the army of Charles XII, -and intended his son for a military career. - -Jean, however, early developed a passion for the stage, and -especially for dancing, so was apprenticed by his father to the -famous Parisian dancer and _maître de ballet_, Dupré. - -In August, 1743, young Noverre made his _début_ at the Court of -Louis-Quinze in a fête at Fontainebleau, but with only moderate -success. Not discouraged, however, he went a little later to the -Court of Berlin, where he became a favourite with Frederick the Great -and his brother, Prince Henry of Prussia. - -He returned to France in 1747, and two years later obtained the -post of _maître de ballet_ at the Opéra Comique, where the success -of his “Ballet Chinois” aroused considerable jealousy among his -colleagues and brought him some distinction in the art world. But -the success was not great enough for his ambitious spirit, and he -again travelled, and did not return to Paris for nearly twenty -years. Noverre and such are seldom recognised as prophets in their -own country, until their genius has received recognition abroad. As -Castil-Blaze, the historian of opera in France, has neatly expressed -it: “Noverre and the two Gardels effected in the dance the same -revolution that Gluck and Sacchini achieved some years later in -French music.” But Noverre was unable to do this as a young man -in Paris fighting against the sheer dead weight of convention and -hide-bound authority. He was unable to do it until he had won his -laurels abroad. - -Sallé, one of the most exquisite and “intellectual” of _danseuses_, -had left Paris for a more appreciative audience in London because -the Paris Opera disliked her attempts to discard the ridiculous -conventions of stage costumes then ruling and to “reform it -altogether” in favour of something more congruous. - -Noverre visioned to himself a theatre devoted to a kind of ballet as -different from that he saw in Paris, as the Russian ballet we have -seen to-day differs from that which London had seen in the ’thirties -of last century; a ballet that should be informed by a technique -so perfect as to be unobtrusive, and combining the arts of dance, -pantomime, music and poesy into a new, subtle, resourceful and -comprehensive means of artistic expression. - -He wanted to see swept away all the mechanical rules of ballet -composition, the stereotyped and unimaginative story, the -conventional arrangement of stage groups, the stilted “heroic” style -of the dancers, the formal sequence of their _entrées_, and above -all, the _bizarrerie_ of their masks, their panniers and helmets with -waving, funereal plumes. He wanted to infuse a new spirit of art and -efficiency into what he found about him and--he had to go elsewhere! -An invitation from the Duke of Würtemberg to become _maître de -ballet_ at the luxurious Court of Stuttgart gave him his chance, and -he founded here the school which was to influence European Ballet in -that and the successive generation, as the school of Petrograd seemed -like to do to-day. - -The publication of his _Lettres sur la Danse et sur les Ballets_, in -1760, dedicated by permission to this same Duke of Würtemberg and -Teck, caused a sensation among dancers in Paris and other capitals, -and having produced ballets in Berlin, London (1755), Lyons (1758), -and Stuttgart, he was reintroduced to Paris by Vestris (who had been -in the habit of visiting Stuttgart every year to dance during his -vacations) in 1765, when he achieved a success with his tragic ballet -of “Medea.” - -Later he was to visit Vienna, to superintend the fêtes on the -occasion of the marriage of the Archduchess Caroline (Queen of -Naples), produce there a dozen ballets, and become appointed Director -of Court fêtes and _Maître de Danse_ to the Empress Maria Theresa and -Imperial Family, the Empress heaping favours upon him and granting a -lieutenancy to his son. - -From Vienna he went to the Court of Milan, where he was created -Chevalier of the Order of the Cross; then to the Courts of Naples and -Lisbon; then to London, and finally again to Paris, in 1775, on the -invitation of his old pupil, Marie Antoinette, who made him _Maître -des Ballets en Chef_ at the Imperial Academy of Music, and Director -of the fêtes at the Petit Trianon; finally retiring at the outbreak -of the French Revolution, to London, where it is possible--or, at any -rate, in England--some of his descendants may yet be living. - -A translation of these wonderful _Lettres sur la Danse et sur les -Ballets_ was published in London in 1780, and was dedicated to the -then Prince of Wales, later George IV. In the preface the anonymous -translator says: “The works of Monsieur Noverre, especially the -following letters, have been translated into most of the European -languages and thought worthy of a distinguished place in the -libraries of the literati.” To which, let me add, they should be so -thought to-day, at least in their original French form, for they are -of uncommon interest and literary charm. - -In the somewhat stiff manner of the English of the late Georgian -period, his translator remarks of Noverre’s work in the original: -“His manner of writing is chaste, correct and elegant; perfectly -master of his subjects, he treats of them with the utmost -perspicuity; and by the connection which he proves to exist between -the other arts, and that of dancing, the author lays down rules and -precepts for them all; so that the poet, the painter and the musician -may be greatly benefited by the perusal of his works.” - -The translator follows with a short history of dancing, and three -extremely interesting epistles to Noverre from the great Voltaire, in -the first of which, apropos the publication of Noverre’s _Lettres_, -he says: “I have read, sir, your work of genius: my gratitude equals -my esteem. You promise only to treat of dancing, and you shed a -light on all the arts. Your style is as eloquent as your ballet is -imaginative.” In another he remarks: “I have for admiring you, a -reason personal to myself; it is that your works abound with poetical -images. Poets and painters shall vie with each other to have you -ranked with them.” Again he says: “I am surprised that you have not -been offered such advantages as might have kept you in France; but -that time is no more when France sets the example to all Europe”; but -elsewhere remarks, curiously enough: “I believe that your merit will -be fully recognised in England, for there they love Nature.” - -[Illustration: Jean Georges Noverre] - -It was just this love of Nature and “natural” acting which brought -Noverre and Garrick together in mutual admiration and friendship, to -the latter of whom, by the way, the French _maître_ pays the highest -tribute in his tenth letter. To turn, however, to the first: -“Poetry, painting and dancing are, or ought to be, the faithful copy -of Nature ... a ballet is a piece of painting, the scene is the -canvas; in the mechanical motions of the figures we find the colours -... the composer himself is the painter. - -“Ballets have hitherto been the faint sketch only of what they might -one day be. An art entirely subservient, as this is, to taste and -genius, may receive daily variations and improvements. History, -painting, mythology, poetry, all join to raise it from that obscurity -in which it lies buried; and it is truly surprising that composers -have hitherto disdained so many valuable resources.... If ballets -are for the most part uninteresting and uniformly dull, if they fail -in their characteristic _expression_ which constitutes their very -essence, the defect does not originate from the art itself, but -should be ascribed to the artists. Are then the latter to be told -that dancing is an imitative art? I am indeed inclined to think that -they know it not, since we daily see the generality of composers -sacrifice the beauties of the dance and forego the graceful _naïveté_ -of sentiment, to become servile copyists of a certain number of -figures known and hackneyed for a century or more.... It is uncommon -and next to impossible now to find invention in ballets, elegance in -the forms, neatness in the groups, or the requisite precision in the -means of introducing the various figures.” - -“Ballet masters should consult the productions of the most eminent -painters. This would bring them nearer to Nature and induce them -to avoid as often as possible that symmetry of figures which, by -repeating the object, presents two separate pictures on one and the -same canvas. A ballet, perfect in all its parts, is a picture drawn -from life, of the manners, dresses, ceremonies and customs of the -various nations. It must be a complete _panto-mime_ and through -the eyes speak, as it were, to the very soul of the spectator. If -it wants expression, if it be deficient in point of situation and -scenery, it degenerates into a mere _spectacle_, flat and monotonous. - -“This kind of composition will not admit of mediocrity; like the art -of painting it requires a degree of perfection the more difficult -to attain in that it is subordinate to a true imitation of Nature, -and that it is next to an impossibility to achieve that all-subduing -truth which conceals the illusion from the spectator, carries him, as -it were, to the very spot where the scene lies; and inspires him with -the same sentiments as he must experience, were he present at the -events which the artist only represents. - -“Ballets, being regular representations, ought to unite the various -parts of the drama. Most of the subjects, adapted to the dancer, -are devoid of sense, and exhibit only a confused jumble of scenes, -equally unmeaning and unconnected; yet it is in general absolutely -necessary to confine oneself within certain rules. The historical -part of a ballet must have its exposition, its incidents, its -_dénouement_. The success of this kind of entertainment chiefly -depends on choosing good subjects, and dealing with them in a proper -manner.” - -The above brief quotations are all of interest as bearing on -particular points in dancing and ballet-composition, but I cannot -refrain from giving one more and a lengthier excerpt, the sound -common sense of which applies to-day and will appeal to all modern -dancers who realise that the finest opportunities of displaying their -skill are, and can only be, found in ballets worthy of their art. - -“Every ballet,” he says, “complicated and extensive in its subject, -which does not point out, with clearness and perspicuity, the action -it is intended to represent, the intrigue of which is unintelligible, -without a program or printed explanation: a ballet, in fine, whose -plan is not felt, and appears deficient in point of exposition, -incident and _dénouement_; such a ballet, I say, will never rise, in -my opinion, above a mere _divertissement_ of dancing, more or less -commendable from the manner in which it is performed. But it cannot -affect me much, since it bears no particular character, and is devoid -of expression. - -“It may be objected that dancing is now in so improved a state -that it may please, nay, enchant without the accessory ornaments -of expression and sentiment.... I readily acknowledge that, as to -mechanical execution, the art has attained the highest degree of -perfection: I shall even confess that it sometimes is graceful: but -gracefulness is but a small portion of the qualities it requires. - -“What I call the mechanical parts of dancing are the steps linked -to each other with ease and brilliancy, the aplomb, steadiness, -activity, liveliness, and a well-directed opposition between the -arms and legs. When all these parts are managed without genius, when -the latter does not direct these different motions, and animate them -by the fire of sentiment and expression; I feel neither emotion nor -concern. The dexterity of the dancer obtains my applause; I admire -the automaton, but I experience no further sensation. It has upon -me the same effect as the most beautiful line, whose words are -uncouthly set asunder, producing sound, not sense. As for instance, -what would a reader feel at hearing the following detached words: -_Fame-lives-in-dies-he-cause-who-in-virtue’s?_ Yet these very words -aptly joined by the man of genius, by Shakespeare, express the -noblest sentiment: - - ‘He lives in Fame who dies in Virtue’s cause.’ - -“From the above comparison we may fairly conclude that the art -of Dancing has in itself all that is necessary to speak the best -language, but that it is not enough to be acquainted only with its -alphabet. Let the man of genius put the letters together, form -the words, and from these produce regular sentences; the art shall -no longer be mute, but speak with true energy, and the ballets -will share with the best dramatic pieces the peculiar advantage of -exciting the tenderest feelings; nay, of receiving the tribute of a -tear; while, in a less serious style, this art will please, entertain -and charm the spectators. Dancing thus ennobled by the expression of -sentiment, and under the direction of a man of true genius, will, -in time, obtain the praises which the enlightened world bestows on -poetry and painting, and become entitled to the rewards with which -the latter are daily honoured.” - -The closing lines of the above are so curiously prophetic one -questions whether we have not already reached the period when an -“enlightened world” bestows on dancing--at any rate on dancers--the -“rewards” with which poetry and painting have been (or ought to have -been) hitherto honoured. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -GUIMARD THE GRAND: 1743-1816 - - -For some thirty of Madeleine Guimard’s seventy-three years of life -she was the idol of Paris, having risen from obscurity to power, and -returned again from a joyous life set in high places to a lonely -death in obscurity. - -Authorities differ, as authorities so often do over the advent of new -stars in the firmament of life, as to the date of Guimard’s birth. -One says the 2nd, and another the 10th, and yet a third the 20th of -October. Edmond de Goncourt--not infallible on other points--gives -the date of her baptism correctly as December 27th, 1743. - -She made her _début_ before the Parisian public when she was about -sixteen, at the Comédie Française. She was received into the Academy -in 1762, at the age of nineteen, and at a salary of six hundred -livres. - -In face she was not beautiful; some have described her even as ugly. -She certainly had not Sophie Arnould’s shrewish wit, though she had -humour; but her gestures, her face, above all her expressive eyes -spoke eloquently, her dancing seemed ever the true and spirited -expression of sentiments really felt, and in whatsoever _rôle_ she -was always brilliant, entrancing. She had that glamour which makes -up for lack of looks, and had, too, caprice of mood and a commanding -manner, both qualities which susceptible men find adorable. - -Her historians have not always been kind. A contemporary wrote: “_La -Guimard a des caprices entre nous. On ne peut compter sur elle.... -Son arrogance n’a pas de nom.... Ce que la Guimard veut, bon gré, -mal gré, il faut qu’on le veuille._” And there you have it! “What -Guimard wishes, willy-nilly one must wish.” That is a touch that -tells; the words ring true. Intriguing, capricious--masterful! What -wonder, then, that she came to rise by her own buoyancy, of manner -and morals, and sought the rarefied, but, in the days of Louis XV, -far from inaccessible atmosphere of Court circles. - -Guimard made her _début_ at the Opera in May, 1762, as Terpsichore in -a ballet called “Les Caractères de la Danse,” and achieved a triumph. -From that time until she retired from the stage she was practically -without a rival in the affections of the Parisian audiences. One -testimony to her popularity is found in the promptitude with -which she was nicknamed. Guimard, if not beautiful in face, had, -nevertheless, a beautiful figure, was quite unusually graceful, -carried herself nobly, was altogether a commanding and magnetic -personage, but for all her beauty of figure Guimard was amazingly -slim. - -Seeing her in a classical ballet dancing as a nymph between two -fauns--impersonated by the celebrated male-dancers Vestris _père_ and -Dauberval--Sophie Arnould said it reminded her of “two dogs fighting -for a bone.” Another of her footnotes on Guimard was her description -of her as “Le Squelette des Grâces,” which also had the saving grace -of being partly a compliment, and it was by this nickname that -Madeleine was generally known throughout Paris. - -To judge from this insistence on Madeleine’s thinness one might -imagine that she could not be as attractive, certainly hardly as -graceful as has been said. But such nicknames are, though emphasising -some special characteristic, usually only marks of popularity, and -that Guimard really was graceful can be gathered from the summing-up -of Noverre who had seen her dance for years and knew, as only a great -ballet-master could, what he was talking about when he said that “... -from her _début_ to her retirement she was always graceful, naturally -so. She never ran after difficulties. A lovable and noble simplicity -reigned in her dance; she designed it with perfect taste, and put -expression and sentiment into all her movements.” - -Of her performance in Gardel’s ballet, “La Chercheuse d’Esprit,” in -which she played the title-_rôle_, a contemporary wrote that “her -eloquent silences surpassed the vivid, easy and seductive diction -of Mme. Favart;” and he mentions one point that is of interest when -he remembers that the struggle that Noverre had had to achieve -some reform of costume on the opera-stage, namely, that Guimard, -“following the example of Mme. Favart, discarded the panniers and the -cuirasse of conventional costume.” - -In the ballet of “Les Fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour,” in 1766, -Guimard had the misfortune to have one of her arms broken by a piece -of falling scenery. Such was her place in public regard even at this -time, that a Mass was said at Notre-Dame for her recovery. - -It was not long after success came to her that Guimard accepted the -protection of the notorious Prince de Soubise. One of her first -acquisitions, in 1768, was a superb residence at Pantin, just outside -Paris, which was decorated by Fragonard. It was visited by everybody -who _was_ anybody, for, apart from the charms of its mistress, there -was a theatre in the mansion, where entertainments of a very special -kind were staged, little poetic trifles or risky comedies, which -while delighting a circle of appreciative connoisseurs would not have -been staged in the ordinary way, as being caviare to the general. - -The place at Pantin, however, did not suffice the exigent Madeleine, -and a town-house was taken also in the Chaussée d’Antin,--next to -that of Sophie Arnould by the way--where another theatre was built -and where even more festive entertainments were provided, a theatre -which could seat five hundred persons (only present by invitation) -which received the name of The Temple of Terpsichore. It was designed -by the architect Ledoux, decorated by Fragonard, who did numerous -lovely panels in which Guimard appeared; and by David, then a -youthful assistant, whom Madeleine’s generous aid is said to have -sent to Rome for the furtherance of his art education. - -Here in the course of time all Paris came. Here Guimard held her -famous receptions--three a week, to the first of which were invited -members of the Court circles, the aristocracy of the aristocracy; -to the second--artists, actors, actresses, musicians, poets, the -aristocracy of the world of intellect; to the third--all the polished -rakes and roués, with their attendant Phrynes, the aristocracy of -vice. - -There seem to have been wild times in the Chaussée d’Antin Hôtel, and -some of Madeleine’s private theatrical productions must have been -worthy of tottering Rome. Well might discreet Abbés, and reputedly -virtuous ladies of the Court hide behind the curtains of the darkened -and mysterious boxes with which her theatre was provided. Not be seen -while seeing was their only chance to retain a virtuous reputation! -It was now doubtless that after having long danced _le genre -sérieux_, Guimard abandoned it as one record says for the _genre -mixte_, and was “inimitable” in “les ballets Anacréontiques!” - -One example of the sort of dramatic fare Madeleine was giving her -guests on occasion at Pantin, or at the Chaussée d’Antin residence, -will suffice. In 1721 at the Château of St. Cloud, in the presence -of the Duc d’Orléans as Regent, there had been given a ballet called -“Les Fêtes d’Adam.” Some of her friends suggested that Madeleine -should go one better and produce a ballet on a classic subject with -herself as Venus rising from the sea. But the Archbishop of Paris -got news of the affair and managed to nip the suggestion in the bud. -Perhaps it was never seriously intended; it may have been “merely a -suggestion--nothing more.” - -One of her first lovers was Delaborde the financier, poor only as -an amateur musician, who directed her theatre at Pantin till it -was closed in 1770; and only of greater importance in her life, -financially, was Soubise. But Madeleine had a particular _penchant_ -for bishops it seems, and incidentally some of her later and most -devoted friends were De Jarente, Bishop of Orleans, De Choiseul, the -Archbishop of Cambrai, and Desnos, Bishop of Verdun. - -The first-named of these clerical worthies had the disposal of a -whole sheaf of livings, that is to say, he was supposed to have, but -it was really Madeleine who allotted them--abbeys, priories, chapels -and so forth. She did not forget her friends, and De Jarente found -himself unable to resist. “What Guimard wishes one must wish!” It was -this allotment of the bishops’ _feuille des bénéfices_ which drew -from Sophie Arnould the whimsical remark that “_Ce petit ver à soie_ -(Guimard) _devrait être plus gras. Elle ronge une si bonne feuille._” - -Another favour which, through the Prince de Soubise, Madeleine was -able to dispense among her friends was permission to hunt in the -Royal forests, and it led to trouble on more than one occasion--her -friends were so much of a _genre mixte_. - -But if men were weak where Guimard was concerned, there is no need -to consider her as infamous. There is so often a tendency among -chroniclers to consider that because a pretty woman, with every -inducement to succumb to temptation, had a “protector,” all her men -friends found her equally ready to receive their attentions. Nothing -could be more unjust. There may have been reasons why Madeleine did -not marry sooner than she did, and she may not have been quite that -paragon of virtue our present time prefers, but in an age notorious -for its callousness and cruelty as well as for its moral laxity she -was distinguished as a woman not merely of fascination but of good -heart and generous impulses. - -Did not one writer say of her that “_En quittant le théâtre, cette -virtuose emporta le genre agréable avec elle_?” Did not Marmontel, -referring to her well-known acts of charity, write of her the poem -beginning: - - “Est-il bien vrai, jeune et belle damnée - Que, du théâtre embelli par tes pas, - Tu vas chercher dans le froid galetas, - L’humanité plaintive abandonnée?” - -Did not a preacher speak of her in the pulpit as “Magdalen not yet -repentant, but already charitable?” and add, too, that “The hand -which gives so well will not be refused when knocking at the gates -of Paradise?” And why? Because all who were in trouble had but to -turn to Guimard for help--poor players, artists, poets, all. Because, -though every year she received a handsome present from Soubise, one -year, in 1768, when the winter had dealt cruelly with the Paris poor, -she begged that instead of sending her jewellery, the Prince would -send her the equivalent in money, and when she received it she added -more, and herself went to all the poor folk in her neighbourhood and -fed the starving; went unostentatiously, from simple good-heartedness -and sympathy; and it was the populace who spoke of it, not she. - -She had her foibles, her little vanities perhaps, as when at -Longchamps one summer she appeared in an equipage most gorgeously -embellished with somewhat startling arms--mistletoe growing out of a -gold mark, which glowed in the middle of a shield, the Graces serving -as supports, with a group of Cupids as a crown. - -Guimard could be jealous on occasion. A Mlle. Dervieux, appearing -as a singer at the Academy without success, had the audacity to -reappear as a dancer and triumph. This Madeleine would possibly not -have minded, but her own pet poet Dorat celebrated Mlle. Dervieux’s -success in verse, and this poetic infidelity was more than Madeleine -could stand, with the consequence that all the pamphleteers of Paris -were forthwith ranged on sides and a paper war took place between the -rival supporters of the two fair dancers, characters were torn to -rags, and in the course of time the battle burnt itself out, as such -usually do, without anyone being seriously the worse. - -Strangely enough it was just at this time that Guimard herself -elected to make an appearance as a singer. When there was a revival -of some of the old pieces in the repertoire of the Royal Academy, -including “Les Fêtes d’Hébé ou les Talents Lyriques,” for which -Rameau had written the music, Guimard appeared in this as Aglaia, one -of the three Graces--“with song and dance,” as one might say to-day. -But it was, as so often the case in modern days, only the charm of -the dance that made it possible to forgive the disillusion of the -song, for Madeleine’s voice was thin and hard. - -It was as a dancer and always as a dancer that Guimard excelled. -It was as a dancer she won her chief successes in the ballets “La -Chercheuse d’Esprit” (1778), “Ninette à la Cour” (1778), “Mirza” -(1779), “La Rosière” (1784) and “Le Premier Navigateur” (1785), all -of which, by the way, were by Maximilien Gardel. Of her work in these -one historian has written: “Her dance was always noble, full of life, -light, expressive and voluptuous; her acting naïve, gay, piquante, -tender and pathetic.” Connoisseurs reproached her at times for having -grown a little “mannered,” but she always preserved in her dance that -finish, even preciosity, and those delicate _nuances_ of style of -which later times have proved the rarity. - -It was as a dancer she had the good fortune to please the King who, -always a generous patron of the arts--with the nation’s money!--gave -her for one dance she performed before him and the Queen, a pension -of six thousand livres a year, giving at the same time a pension of -one thousand a year to the man who danced with her, Despréaux, who -later became her husband. This pension came to her the year following -her appearance in “Le Premier Navigateur,” in 1786, apparently -just at a time she was much in need of money. One may believe that -Madeleine’s impulsive generosity had helped to bring about that need, -as well as her known extravagance. For one thing, apart from her -being ready to assist less fortunate artists, she had been the prime -mover in an act of wholesale renunciation. - -The Prince of Soubise, in the manner of his King, a generous patron -of the arts, had been allowing a handsome annual pension to a number -of dancers at the Opera, as well as treating them all to periodical -supper-parties of most sumptuous kind. Suddenly the supper-parties -ceased, the Prince was no longer seen among the audiences at the -Opera and it came to be known that his son-in-law, the Prince de -Gueméné, had become bankrupt, disastrously so, and that the entire -family were doing their best to meet the creditors honourably. When -this was known all the dancers foregathered in Madeleine’s _loge_ -at the Opera and a stately, kindly, tactful letter was drawn up and -signed by all the _pensionnaires_, some thirty or more, headed by -Guimard. The length of it precludes entire quotation in a chapter -all too short to cover Madeleine’s crowded seventy-three years, -but after referring to their regret at the Prince’s absence, to a -delay in approaching him due to fear lest they be thought wanting -in consideration, and to the urgent motive which had overcome such -delicate scruples on hearing the news of the bankruptcy confirmed on -all sides, the writers of the letter proceed that, finding there can -be no prospect of the position improving, they feel they would be -guilty of ingratitude were they not to imitate the Prince’s exemplary -renunciations on behalf of his relative, and restore the pensions -with which his generosity had provided them. “Apply,” the letter -continues, “these revenues, Monseigneur, to the relief of so many -old soldiers, poor men of letters, and such unhappy retainers as the -Prince de Gueméné draws with him in his downfall. As for us, other -resources remain. We shall have lost nothing, Monseigneur, if we -retain your esteem. We shall even have gained if in refusing to-day -your kindly gifts we force our detractors to acknowledge that we were -not unworthy of them. We are, with deep respect, Monseigneur, your -Serene Highness’s very humble servants, Guimard, Heinel, Peslin, -Dorival, etc., etc.” The letter is dated 6th December, 1782. - -It was now that Guimard was paying periodical summer visits to London -for the Opera seasons. Edmond de Goncourt in his monograph on the -dancer gives two very interesting letters written by Guimard apropos -to these London sojourns, one to Perregaux the Banker, dated 20th -June, 1784, the other to M. de la Ferté, Director of the Académie, -dated 26th May, (1786) and both addressed from No. 10, Pall Mall. - -In the former she gives a spirited and amusing account of the way in -which Gallini and Ravelli, then directing the Opera in London, had -sought to take advantage of a fire at the old Opera House in order to -break through the contract with Guimard by which she was to receive -six hundred and fifty guineas for the season. The fire seemed at -first likely to put a closure on the season, but Covent Garden was -placed at the disposal of the Opera. Gallini, making alleged losses -the excuse, tried to persuade Madeleine to lower her terms for the -rest of the season. Finding she would only agree to providing her -own costumes--no light consideration--he pretended satisfaction and -departed. Ravelli, however, followed and, evidently by arrangement, -informed her that Gallini was several kinds of idiot, and that he had -been deposed in favour of Ravelli who, as the new stage-manager, came -to offer her fresh terms--twenty-five louis a performance, on behalf -of Gallini. - -Guimard smiled and expressed astonishment that Ravelli should make -such propositions from Gallini since the latter was no longer in -power, and added that she held them to her contract. When she turned -up at rehearsal with a couple of witnesses and having consulted -solicitors, Ravelli “looked green” and Gallini “stupefied.” They -offered fresh proposals and tried hard to wriggle out of their -contract but Guimard won, of course, and the more so in that though -her chief friends among the English aristocracy, notably the Duchess -of Devonshire, were out of town, enough were left to make things -uncomfortable for Gallini, who found his conduct the talk of the town. - -The second letter, to M. la Ferté, is mainly good advice on the -direction of the Opera and encouragement of rising talent, and for -this giving of counsel she begs that he will excuse her since it -is out of friendship for him and also on account of her desire, in -her own words, “_ne pas voir détruire entièrement la belle danse, -que j’ai vu exister à l’Opéra_.” In both letters she sends--in -the inevitable postscript!--charming messages to the wives of her -correspondents and mentions some little commissions with which they -had entrusted her. - -That she did not have a bad time in London may be gathered from the -fact that she excuses herself for not having written sooner because -since she arrived in town she had not been left a minute to herself -by “_les plus grandes dames_,” and principally by the Duchess of -Devonshire with whom she spent most of the time that she had away -from the theatre; and of the London audiences generally she remarks: -“_Ils m’aiment à la folie, ces bons Anglais!_” Not the first time a -charming foreign dancer has been beloved of “_ces bons Anglais!_” - -But with all the friendship of the great and the love of the populace -and her six hundred and fifty guineas for the London season, -Guimard’s financial position was not what it had been. The Soubise -pension had been relinquished; that she received from the King in -view of twenty years’ service at the Opera hardly sufficed her rather -magnificent requirements, and the time came, in 1786, when she found -it convenient to dispose of her mansion in the Chaussée d’Antin. -This she did by arranging, without police sanction, a lottery, the -tickets for which numbered two thousand five hundred, at a hundred -and twenty livres each, a total sum of three hundred thousand livres. -There was a fierce demand for the tickets, and twice the number could -have been sold. The drawing took place in a salon of the Hôtel des -Menus-Plaisirs, Rue Bergère, on the 1st of May, 1786, and Madeleine’s -mansion with all its furniture went to the Comtesse du Lau, who, by -the way, had only taken one ticket! - -It is worth noting now that Madeleine had reached the age of -forty-three, that she had never been pretty and that she was marked -with smallpox, with which--a current danger at those times--she had -been attacked in 1783. To a clever and magnetic personality age -matters not, nor do looks mean everything since in any case they are -bound to alter in the course of a few decades; and even smallpox is -not fatal to fascination. But these things, nevertheless, have to be -admitted when one comes to years of discretion, and forty-three may -be accounted such. One wonders whether Madeleine, who was eminently -a woman of sense, began about now to face facts and the future, and -whether the doing so, or else mere circumstances, political and -social, impelled her to the next step in her career. - -People had wondered how Guimard had managed to keep exactly the -same appearance for so many years. This was the secret! When she -was twenty she had a portrait painted that was true to life and -afterwards, for some twenty years or so, every morning she would -study this and make herself up to resemble it exactly; and neither -lover nor friend was ever admitted to this toilette. - -This was an ingenious idea, but it could not last for ever. It is -all the more interesting then to note the next important incident in -Guimard’s career. Ninon de l’Enclos, acting on the principle that -it’s never too late to have a lover, flirted when she was ninety. -Guimard gave up lovers when she was past forty and took a husband, a -man, moreover, whom she had known for years. - -In 1789, Guimard retired from the Opera; in 1789 she married Jean -Despréaux, dancer and poet; and in 1789 the gathering storms of -Revolution broke and Paris, smitten first by famine, became for the -next few years a hell, in which strangely enough, there was still a -demand for entertainment lighter and less fervid than massacre. - -When Guimard and Despréaux--comrades for at least twenty-five -years--married, they settled down, on a fairly comfortable income, -derived from their pensions and acquired property, at Montmartre -and one of Jean’s poems gives a charming picture of their retreat -in those troubled times. But during the Revolution, State finances -were in disorder, and pensions were curtailed or discontinued and -all the old favourites of the Opera were more or less involved in -difficulties. In 1792, the city of Paris having confided the care -of the Opera to Francoeur and Celerier, they nominated Despréaux -director of the theatre and a member of the administrative committee, -but this did not last. The following year Francoeur and Celerier -were imprisoned, the actors were authorised to manage the theatre -themselves and Despréaux--whose father, by the way, who had been -leader of the orchestra at the Opera, killed himself the same year -from despair at the general ruin around him--was allotted some part -in the management of the public fêtes. - -In 1796--the year of the establishment of the Directory--Madeleine -made a reappearance at a benefit given on January 23rd for the -veteran performers at the Opera who had all suffered grievous -losses in the Revolution. In 1807, three years after the crowning -of Napoleon, by which time the national ferment had begun to -settle down a little and the languished arts to take hope again, -an Imperial decree dated July 29th, reduced the number of theatres -in Paris to eight, and the Académie Impériale de Musique--as it -was now called--had for Director, Picard, the comic poet, and for -“inspecteur”--Despréaux. - -But these casual and precarious employments were not enough to remedy -the losses that husband and wife sustained in the lean and fevered -years from 1789, when they settled down in their high-perched nest -overlooking all Paris in Montmartre until 1807, when Despréaux became -again attached to the Opera, and that this employment too did not -last we know from a letter which Madeleine wrote to a friend in 1814 -imploring him to use his influence with people at Court to obtain -from Louis XVIII some position for her husband, a letter in which she -mentions the loss of their entire fortune owing to the Revolution -and pleads that “_nos besoins sont bien urgents_.” - -There is then every probability that their needs really were urgent. -Guimard had never been charged with thrift; and Despréaux was a poet. -Both started married life with a fair capital--all things henceforth -held in common of course, according to the law--but fortune was -against them, and though they might perhaps have weathered the storm -had they been twenty years younger, it was almost inevitable that, -their pensions gone, their capital diminishing, they should find the -struggle growing yearly harder and their chances of replenishing -their coffers less and less. De Goncourt gives what one cannot but -feel is a too idyllic picture of the last years of the old couple, -mainly on the basis of Jean’s poems (and _he_ was ever an optimist!) -but he also gives us one true, interesting, and poignant glimpse of -Madeleine as an old lady who, with her toy theatre, would, for the -amusement of friends who chanced to drop in, go through the scenes of -former splendour and with her frail fingers perform the steps that -had made her famous in many a ballet of the past. - -Apparently Madeleine’s appeal to friends at Court must have had some -success for Despréaux. In the following year, 1815, he was appointed -inspector-general of the Court entertainments, and professor “_de -danse et de grâces_” at the Conservatoire. But it is probable that -only the last three or four years of their married life brought them -any return of fortune. - -[Illustration: Madeleine Guimard - -(_From the painting by Fragonard_).] - -Madeleine died on May 4th, 1816, and, for years out of sight of -a public which had long had other and less gracious objects for -thought, her death passed almost unnoticed by the populace for whose -amusement she had worked so loyally in her prime. Four years later, -on March 26th, 1820, Despréaux followed her who had been his adored -comrade for the greater portion of their lives. He had seen her, -as little more than a child, win her earliest triumphs at the Opera, -had seen her growing splendour as a woman of fashion, watched her -through many years, danced with her, written for her and about her, -seen her worst and best, and loved her well enough all through to -wait till she would consent to marry him and with him retire from the -stage they had so long adorned; and through the years, troublous for -no fault of theirs, which followed their marriage, he cheered and -consoled her for all she had relinquished, for the public worship all -foregone, and for the neglect of the rising generation. - -He it was who, though their means can hardly have permitted it, -instituted the little _déjeuners_ and supper-parties of kindred -spirits, where songs were written and ballads sung in praise of love -and wine and “la Gloire”--the one cry of the French Romanticists; -all, one may well think, to cheer his beloved whose charm and -goodness, poet himself, he never ceased to sing. - -All this could not have been had not Guimard, with all her faults had -more reserves of goodness than her earlier circumstances can have -given opportunity for developing. Guimard had been grand; Guimard had -been gay; but through it all Guimard must have been good in heart, -full of sympathy and courage and generous charities of mind and soul; -and Despréaux, gentle, wise, humorous, idealistic, honest, must have -found her so, to speak and write of her as he always did, with ardour -and a kind of boyish awe, even after she had passed away. No note of -discord marred their married years, and when Guimard came to make -her exit from the stage of life, silently, with nothing but ghostly -memories of applause, her comrade, well we may be sure, waited only -with impatience for his cue to follow her. - - - GUIMARD SPEAKS - - (Ætat. 70) - - “Yes, ye may laugh at Mère Guimard, - Laugh well, my girls, while laugh ye may! - But none of ye will fare as far - As I, who long have had my day. - Time was when Paris all did pray - Because I broke my arm! And yet - Who now recalls my queen-like sway - O’er those whom Death did not forget? - - “Time on my visage many a scar - Hath graven deep. No longer gay - My voice, that once could make or mar - The Minister who failed to pay - Just tribute to my charms. Decay - My once slim, rounded limbs doth fret; - And scarce my feet could tread their way - O’er those whom Death did not forget. - - “Yet ere I dance to where they are, - Take heed, my girls, the words I say! - I had a power none might bar, - A court that rivalled the array - Of aught Versailles could best display, - For at my Court Versailles was met! - And still I triumph, old and grey, - O’er those whom Death did not forget. - - - ENVOI - - “‘Squelette des Grâces’ they called me! - Yea, and now? Sans-graces! A mere ‘Squelette!’ - But grace I _had_, and have, to-day - O’er those whom Death did not forget.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -DESPRÉAUX, POET AND--HUSBAND OF GUIMARD - - -There can be nothing more irksome to a man than to be known merely as -the husband of his more famous wife. - -In speaking, however, of Despréaux as “husband of Guimard,” it -is not my intention to cast any slight on an estimable and, in -his own time, well-known personality; but I do so merely that the -reader will thereby be able to “place” her genial and accomplished -husband, M. Despréaux to whom reference has already been made. He -was born in 1748, five years after Mlle. Guimard, and was the son -of a musician at the Paris Opera, where he himself was entered as a -supernumerary-dancer in 1764. He made rapid progress in the art of -his choice and won increasing reputation until, unhappily a wound in -the foot completely closed his career as a “star,” and being a man -of much theatrical experience and general culture, he then became a -_maître de ballet_ and also gave dancing lessons. In 1789 he married -Madeleine Guimard, whom he had long worshipped, and the two retired, -as we know, at the opening of the Revolution to a cosy nest on the -heights of Montmartre. So high, indeed, were they and so steep was -the roadway approaching their dwelling, that the patrols refrained -from troubling them, and save for financial losses, and rumours of -revolution and distant guns, the couple remained untroubled by the -red and raging Anarchy in the city stretched at their feet. - -Edmond de Goncourt makes out--on what authority I cannot fathom--that -Despréaux was born in 1758, and _not_ 1748, thus making him out to -be fifteen years the junior of Guimard when they married in 1789. As -on other points he writes with such accuracy and copious wealth of -detail one might suppose him to be correct, but seeing that Despréaux -was undoubtedly entered a supernumerary-dancer in the Opera in 1764, -and could hardly have been so at the age of six, one can only infer -a slip of the pen, and that Goncourt really meant 1748, which would -make the young male dancer’s age the likelier one of sixteen on -appearing at Opera as a super, although he would, of course, have -been training earlier. - -The question of age, however, is comparatively small. The thing that -matters for us is that Despréaux, following modestly in the footsteps -of his far greater predecessor Boileau-Despréaux (not an ancestor, by -the way) had cultivated a taste for poetry, and during his retirement -at Montmartre, divided his time between amusing his wife and friends -with cutting silhouettes--at which he was an expert--and singing -songs and parodies which he wrote himself. - -It seems an odd thing, does it not? that a man should be thus amusing -himself and his friends--should be sufficiently undistracted to do -so--while the greatest revolution then known to history should be in -progress. But what could he do? He was a dancer, a singer, an artist; -and could have had little weight had he meddled in the risky game of -politics. As it was, perhaps, he chose the saner course, and when -most were losing their heads he kept his own, and, as Richard Cœur de -Lion had when in prison, wiled away the hours in song. - -His poems were collected and published in two volumes under the -title: “_Mes Passe-Temps: Chansons, suivies de l’Art de la Danse, -poème en quatre chants, calqué sur l’Art Poétique de Boileau -Despréaux._” They were “adorned” with engravings after the design of -Moreau Junior, and the music of the songs appears at the end of the -second volume. - -The work was published after the Revolution fever had subsided, -in 1806, and perhaps the very strangest comment on the Revolution -is implied in Despréaux’s preface, which calmly opens with the -following: “In 1794 I suggested to a number of friends that we should -meet once or twice a month to dine together, under the condition that -politics should never be mentioned, and that each should bring a song -composed upon a given word. My proposition was taken up; we decided -that the words should be drawn by lot, after being submitted to the -judgment of the gathering, in order to eliminate subjects which might -only present needless difficulties.” - -And so the year 1794, being one of the worst of all those red years -of Revolution, this little centre went placidly through it, dining -and wining and rhyming, as if there were nothing worse than a sham -fight raging round the distant horizon. It positively makes one -wonder if there _was_ a French Revolution after all. But no, there -evidently was, for our author had a nice little library, and in the -following year, owing to monetary losses occasioned by the general -_débâcle_, had to sell many of his beloved volumes. Of course he -made song about it--“Ma Bibliothèque, ou Le Cauchemar”--in which he -pictures the spectre of want asking him what he will do, and urging -him to sell his books for food. “Que feras-tu, Despréaux?” the -nightmare questions: - - “Ni bois ni vin dans ta cave - De chandelle pas un bout: - Faussement on fait le brave - Lorsque l’on manque de tout! - - * * * - - Une tartine de beurre - Vaut plus que jadis un bœuf - Dans un mois, à pareille heure - Quel sera le prix d’un œuf? - Par décade mille livres - Ne peuvent payer ton pain - Mon ami, _mange tes livres_ - _Pour ne pas mourir de faim_.” - -The spectre points out that the prospect of having to do so is -no mere dream and urges him to sell “_tous tes auteurs fameux_,” -pointing out that he could live on the “divine” Homer for at least -a day or two, while on the “pensif” Rousseau he could exist a long -time. He could count on his precious Virgil for the rent, while the -translation “de Delille” should yield his old gardener’s wages. Among -the many works mentioned in indiscriminate order are Plutarch, La -Fontaine, Don Quichotte, Anacreon, Newton, Milton, Cicero, Horace, -Juvenal, Boccaccio, Erasmus, Montesquieu, Boileau, Corneille, -Voltaire, Racine, Favart, Molière, Plato, Dorat, Seneca, and a set of -the British Drama! - -It should be noted, by the way, that Despréaux had some knowledge of -English and had paid occasional visits to London with his wife, who -was rather a favourite of the then Duchess of Devonshire, and in one -of his poems he gives an amusingly bitter “Tableau de Londres,” in -which he complains of-- - - “Cette atmosphère de cendre - Qui ne cesse de descendre,” - -speaks of the lower classes as “insolent” and chaffs the English -taste for beer and the eternal “roast-biff” (_sic_); while as to the -English Sunday, the stanza must really be given in full: - - “Deux cents dimanches anglais, - N’en valent pas un français, - Ce jour, si joyeux en France, - Est le jour de pénitence; - Et lorsqu’un Anglais se pend - Se pend, se pend, - C’est un dimanche qu’il prend; - A Paris, le dimanche on danse. - Vive la France!” - -Our poet’s range of subject was remarkable--high philosophy, -discussed with smiling raillery; curious life-contrasts, like that -of his wife being a popular dancer and his sister a nun; charades, -dialogues, charming and pathetic little word-pictures like “La -Neige,” a “Bacchic” song on “The End of the World,” and so forth, -nothing seemed to come amiss that could be turned into song. -Throughout his varied work there runs a consistent strain of Gallic -gaiety--itself a form of bravery; and if his Muse has not the hard, -biting intensity of a Villon, nor the lofty rhetoric of a Victor -Hugo, it manages to keep a middle course of sanity and pleasantry -with invariable success and an infallible though limited appeal. - -Among his many ingenious poems are two of special interest to -stage-folk of all time, one “Le Langage des Mains,” _Chanson -Pantomime_, the other “Le Langage des Yeux”; both of which require to -be illustrated by the actor who sings them and emphasise the need of -facial and manual expression. As he truly says: - - “Le comédien ou l’orateur, - Sans mains, serait un corps sans âme.” - -In one of the poems appears the phrase, “La Walse (_sic_) aux -mille tours,” while among the notes at the end of the volume is a -definition which may be translated as follows: Walse--a Swiss dance -the music of which is in 3-4 time; but it has only the value of two -steps. It is done by a couple pirouetting while circling round the -salon. It has nothing in it of complexity; it is the art in its -infancy. When its rhythm is in 2 time it is called “_sauteuse_.” The -word “_sauteuse_” suggests the ordinary polka in 2-4 time, in the -customary manner, for any dance described as “sauteuse” means one -in which the feet are raised from the ground, or in which leaping -is indulged in, _not_ when the feet glide on the ground, as in -the modern waltz. The old _volta_, from which the modern waltz is -derived, was, it will be remembered, a _leaping_ dance. - -The greater part of the second volume is mainly devoted to his -lengthy paraphrase of the great Boileau’s “L’Art Poétique,” under the -title of “L’Art de la Danse,” which is full of sound instruction to -dancers and interesting criticism of his contemporaries. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -A CENTURY’S CLOSE - - -We have lingered somewhat over these sketches of the eighteenth -century; let us hasten over that century’s close, for was it not -steeped in blood? - -“Revolution,” did they not call the madness which seized France? -Heralded by fair promises of universal brotherhood, what did all the -fine talk of her “intellectuals” and “philosophs” end in? A state of -anarchy, national madness; in which no man’s life was safe, and no -woman’s honour. - -War is horrible enough between nations. What, then, is universal war -between individuals, “men, _brother_ men?” - -Strange, is it not, that while the dying century was performing -its dance of death, theatres should be open; operas, comedies, and -ballets be performed. - -Before Guimard and her literary husband had begun to find their -fortunes affected by the advent of the popular madness called -Revolution, there were few theatres in Paris. Indeed, there were only -five of any importance giving daily performances in 1775 and of these -the Opera was of course the leading house as of old--the work of -Gluck, Grétry, Piccinni and Sacchini holding the bill in Opera, for -a period of some thirty years onward, the work of ballet composition -being mainly in the hands of Noverre and the brothers Maximillian and -Pierre Gardel. - -It was from the end of that year, too, when Noverre’s “Médée et -Jason” was produced that the novelty of ballet-pantomime, having -come to replace the earlier opera-ballet, now became generally known -simply as ballet. - -In 1781 the Paris Opera was the scene of a tremendous conflagration, -in which, owing to the presence of mind of Dauberval, one of -the leading dancers, in quickly lowering the curtain, during a -performance of the ballet, the audience were able to escape, but -several of the dancers were burnt, and Guimard herself, discovered -cowering in one of the boxes clad only in her underwear, was rescued -by one of the stage hands. The famous house was ruined, and the -company removed to a provisional house erected by the architect -Lenoir by the Porte St. Martin. - -Ten years later, in 1791, a Royal decree establishing the freedom -of the drama did away with the former paucity of Paris in regard to -places of amusement, and in that year alone eighteen new theatres -were added to those already in existence, and old ones sometimes -changed their names. - -The Opera was known as _L’Académie Royale de Musique_. Then the -King having displeased his people and fled to Varennes, it became -simply the _Opera_. Then the King having pleased his subjects they -graciously permitted a return to _L’Académie Royale_. Then, a month -later, in October, 1791, it became the _Opera-National_; and later -the _Théâtre des Arts_, all of which changes foreshadowed in a way -the advent of blind Revolution; and the next change of title to -_Théâtre de la République et des arts_; which yet was not its final -title. Meanwhile, what of the dancers? - -Guimard had left the stage in 1790. Two years later the leaders -of the ballet were Mlle. Miller (later to become Madame Pierre de -Gardel), Mlle. Saulnier, Mlle. Roze, Madame Pérignon, Mlle. Chevigny. - -Pierre Gardel, born in 1758 at Nancy, had been _maître de ballet_ -at the Opera from 1787, and had produced “Télémaque,” “Psyché,” and -other ballets out of which he made a fortune. “Psyché” alone was -given nearly a thousand times! In most of them Madame Gardel appeared -and with remarkable success. At fifty, as at twenty, she was still -admired. She was an excellent mime, a graceful dancer in all styles, -seemed in each new _rôle_ to surpass herself, and Noverre, describing -her feet, said “they glittered like diamonds.” - -Then there were the brothers Malter, the one known as “the bird,” the -other as “the Devil,” because he usually played the _rôles_ of demons. - -Madame Pérignon, who succeeded Madame Dauberval (_née_ Mlle. -Theodore), was a dancer of talent, but was considerably surpassed -by Mlle. Chevigny of whom an eyewitness of her dancing remarked: -“_Quelle verve! quelle gaîté dans le comique! dans les rôles sérieux, -quelle chaleur! quel pathétique! Tout le feu d’une véritable actrice -brillait dans ses beaux yeux._” - -Then there were Miles. Allard, Peslin, Coulon, Clotilde, Beaupré, -Brancher, Chameroy; Gosselin, who was, despite _embonpoint_, so -supple as to win the nickname “the Boneless”; Fanny Bias, and -Bigottini; and M. Laborie, who in 1790 had “created” the title-_rôle_ -in “Zephyre;” Messieurs Lany, Dauberval; Deshayes, a marvel of -soaring agility; Henry, whose mobile figure recalled “le grand -Dupré”; Didelot, Duport; Auguste Vestris, with whom we have already -dealt; and Lepicq, known as the Apollo of the Dance. - -Throughout the Revolution the theatres had been open, and had been -full. The people had gone mad with lust of blood and lust of power; -but the dancers continued to maintain their aplomb in difficult -_poses_, and pick their steps, more carefully amid the lit and -flowered splendours of the theatre, than statesmen could theirs upon -the blood-stained slippery mire of current “politics.” - -France might hold its fantastic State ballet, the Fête of the -Supreme, indeed might go stark mad, and all Law and Order and Reason -be overthrown, but one man, the greatest world-man known to history, -was gathering strength to bring order out of chaos, to remake a -nation and a nation’s laws; to set the world a-wondering if he should -master it. - -Strangest of all, perhaps, that he, the great Napoleon, should have -found time to flirt with a ballet-dancer--the famous Bigottini, of -whom the Countess Nesselrode in her letters said that the effect she -produced with her dancing and miming was so moving as to make even -the most hardened man weep. - -But she seemed rather to have amused Napoleon, more especially when, -having told the President of the Legislative Chamber, Fontanes, to -send her a present, she received a collection of French classics; -and on being asked later by Napoleon--unaware of the nature of the -gift--if she was content with Fontanes’ choice, she exclaimed that -she was not entirely. - -“How so?” asked Napoleon. - -Bigottini’s reply must be given in the original. - -“Il m’a payée en _livres_; j’aurais mieux aimé en _francs_.” - -In spite of the library, Mlle. Bigottini became a millionaire--in -francs. - - - - - BOOK III: THE MODERN ERA - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY - - -Though it had not died during the Revolutionary period, either in -Paris or London, the art of Ballet, from the death of Louis XV was -really of little artistic interest, and was to remain so until the -famous ’Forties of last century. - -The dancers were mostly mechanical; the ballets uninspired; the -mounting meretricious; and it was not till the ’forties of last -century that a new and all-surpassing _danseuse_, Marie Taglioni, -came to infuse a new spirit into the art and found a tradition that -holds to-day. - -In London Ballet was in almost the same state as in Paris, but not -quite, possibly because having been always imported at its best, it -had had less opportunity of becoming hide-bound by tradition at its -worst, as in the case of an old-established continental school. For -the continued production of soundly artistic ballet the existence of -a good school is a necessity, a school founded and sustained on right -principles. But in its continued existence there is inevitably danger -of ultimate stultification from the “setting” of the very tradition -it has created, unless there is a perpetual infusion of new ideas. - -In Paris the new idea was not then encouraged, if it came counter to -the traditional technique of which the Vestris, father and son, were -the supreme exponents. - -In London there was more freedom, because there was less of -tradition; and while we had to wait until the mid-’forties for the -productions which were to the Londoners of the early Victorian period -what the Russian ballet has been to Londoners in recent years, there -was some fairly sound work being done here from 1795 to 1840. - -I have, among my books, a volume of libretti of ballets composed -by Didelot and produced at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, from -1796 to 1800. It contains “Sappho and Phaon,” _grand ballet -érotique, en quatre actes_; “L’Amour Vengé,” _ballet épisodique, -en deux actes, dans le genre anacréontique_; “Flore et Zephire,” -_ballet-divertissement_, in one act; “The Happy Shipwreck, or -The Scotch Witches,” a dramatic ballet in three acts; “Acis and -Galatea,” a pastoral ballet in one act; and “Laura et Lenza, or The -Troubadour,” a grand ballet in two acts, “performed for the first -time for the benefit of Madame Hilligsberg,” who played Laura. - -“Laura and Lenza,” is of particular interest to us to-day, for among -the performers, in addition to M. Didelot, who played the troubadour -hero, Lenza, was a M. Deshayes--a capable dancer and producer of -ballet in London and Paris--and a Mr. d’Egville, bearer of a name -which is well-known in both cities at the present day. - -“Flora et Zephire,” was the most popular, and was frequently revived -even as late as the ’thirties, when Marie Taglioni made her _début_ -in it at King’s Theatre, for Laporte’s benefit, on June 3rd, 1830. - -Both in Paris and London, however, during the first two decades of -the nineteenth century Ballet was comparatively undistinguished -and it was not really until the ’thirties that it began to assume -new interest. True, there were in Paris, some remarkable exponents -of advanced technique as regards dancing, but in the glamour of -technical achievement the greater idea of the art of Ballet was -somewhat obscured. - -At the Paris Opera the _dieux de la danse_ were MM. Albert Paul -and Ferdinand, all of whom visited London from time to time and -the second of whom was known as _l’aérien_, a descriptive nickname -emphasised by the quaint criticism of a contemporary who wrote: “Paul -used to spring and bound upwards, and was continually in the clouds; -his foot scarcely touched the earth or rather the stage; he darted up -from the ground and came down perpendicularly, after _travelling a -quarter of an hour in the air_!” - -M. Paul, by the way, later became a celebrated dancing-master at -Brighton, in good Queen Victoria’s early days. - -Then, too, there was Paul’s sister who became Madame Montessu, hardly -less celebrated than her brilliant brother. Then, too, Mlle. Brocard, -who so won Queen Victoria’s girlish admiration that some of her dolls -were dressed to represent the pretty dancer in character. Brocard, -however, was more remarkable for her beauty than for her dancing. - -Another famous artist of the period was M. Coulon, to whose careful -tuition the graceful, and _élégante_ Pauline Duvernay owed much of -her success, as did also the sisters Noblet--Lise and Alexandrine, -the latter of whom forsook the dance to become an actress. - -Of Lise Noblet a contemporary chronicler wrote in 1821: “_Encore un -phénix! Une danseuse qui ne fait jamais de faux pas, qui préfère le -cercle d’amis à la foule des amants, qui vient au théâtre à pied, et -qui retourne de même!_” In 1828, she created, with immense success, -the _rôle_ of Fenella, in _La Muette de Portici_, and was described -as “_le dernier produit de l’école française aux poses géométriques -et aux écarts à angle droit_”; the same critic drawing an interesting -comparison between the old school and the rising new one, in adding: -“_Déjà, Marie Taglioni s’avancait sur la pointe du pied--blanche -vapeur baignée de mousselines transparentes--poétique, nébuleuse, -immatérielle comme ces fées dont parle Walter Scott, qui errent la -nuit près des fontaines et portent en guise de ceinture un collier -de perles de rosée!... Lise Noblet se résolut non sans combat--à -prouver qu’il y a au monde quelque chose de plus agréable qu’une -femme qui tourne sur l’ongle de l’orteil avec une jambe parallèle -à l’horizon, dans l’attitude d’un compas farée. Elle céda, à Fanny -Elssler, ‘Fenella’ de La Muette qu’elle avait créée, et lui prit en -échange--‘El Jales de Jérès.’ ‘Las Boleros de Cadiz’ ‘La Madrileña,’ -et toutes sortes d’autres cachuchas et fandangos. Grâce à ces -concessions, Mdlle. Noblet resta jusqu’en 1840, attachée à l’ Opéra._” - -These references to contrast of styles, to Scott, and to Spanish -dances are particularly interesting as illuminating the change which -was coming over the Ballet about 1820-1830. Mere technique as the -chief aim of Ballet was beginning to fail. It had become too academic -and needed the infusion of a new spirit of grace and freedom. It came -in a sudden craze for national dances, particularly Slav and Spanish, -and in the craze for Scott and all his works, which undoubtedly -became an influence on Opera and Ballet, as they did on the forces -which led to the growth of the great Romantic movement, of which -Hugo was to be hailed as leader and of which the effects passing -on through the Art and Literature of the ’fifties, ’sixties, and -’seventies, can still perhaps be traced to-day. - -Much of the popularity of the Spanish and Slav dances during the -early part of the nineteenth century was due to their frequent -performance by Pauline Duvernay, Pauline Leroux and the Elsslers. -There were two Elsslers, sisters, the elder of whom, Thérèse, was -born in 1808, and Fanny in 1810, both at Vienna. - -Thérèse was less brilliant a dancer than her sister--whom she -“mothered” always--but had a charming personality. She eventually -gave up the stage to marry, morganatically, Prince Adalbert of -Prussia, and was afterwards ennobled. - -[Illustration: Fanny Elssler - -(_From an old engraving_).] - -[Illustration: Carlotta Grisi - -(_From a lithograph_).] - -At the outset of her career Fanny achieved distinction, or had it -thrust upon her, by becoming an object of the “grande passion,” on -the part of l’Aiglon, the Duc de Reichstadt, Napoleon’s ill-fated -son. But it was said that the rumour was only put about by her astute -manager, in order to get the young dancer talked about, and as an -advertisement the manœuvre succeeded admirably. - -Both sisters, after acquiring a favourable reputation in Germany, -came to London, and it was here, in 1834, that Véron, the manager of -the Paris Opera, came over to tempt them to appear in Paris with a -salary of forty thousand francs, twenty thousand each. Thinking to -impress the young Viennese with an example of Parisian magnificence, -Véron gave a dinner-party in their honour at the Clarendon, in Bond -Street, to which the best available society was invited, and the -menu, the wine and the equipage were of unparalleled quality. At -dessert an attendant brought a silver salver piled high with costly -presents for the ladies of the company--pearls, rubies, diamonds, -superbly set--a miniature Golconda. But somehow it all fell a trifle -flat. The Elssler girls, true to their simple German training, drank -only water with their dinner, and with dessert merely accepted, the -one a hatpin, and the other a little handbag; and they would not -agree to sign their contract until the day of Véron’s departure! - -Both in Paris and London the sisters were triumphantly successful, -and when in 1841 they toured through America they met with a -reception that was sensational. It was “roses, roses all the -way”; and in some of the towns triumphal arches were erected. At -Philadelphia their horses were unharnessed and their carriage drawn -by the admiring populace, headed by the Mayor! - -Fanny was an especial favourite, and when the sisters left New -Orleans, some niggers, who were hoisting freight from the hold of an -adjacent steamboat--and niggers are notoriously apt at catching up -topical subjects--thus chanted, as the vessel bearing the dancers -left the wharf: - - “Fanny, is you going up de ribber? - Grog time o’ day. - When all dese here’s got Elssler fever? - Oh, hoist away! - De Lor’ knows what we’ll do widout you, - Grog time o’ day. - De toe an’ heel won’t dance widout you. - Oh, hoist away! - Day say you dances like a fedder, - Grog time o’ day. - Wid t’ree t’ousand dollars all togedder. - Oh, hoist away!” - -Fanny Elssler was at her best in the ballet of “Le Diable Boiteux,” the -plot of which is founded on Le Sage’s famous romance. An enthusiastic -contemporary described her in the following quaint terms: “_La_ Fanny -is tall, beautifully formed, with limbs that strongly resemble the -hunting Diana, combining strength with the most delicate and graceful -style. Her small and classically shaped head is placed on her shoulders -in a singularly elegant manner; the pure fairness of her skin requires -no artificial whiteness; while her eyes beam with a species of playful -malice, well-suited to the half-ironical expression at times visible in -the corners of her finely curved lips. Her rich, glossy hair, of bright -chestnut hue, is usually braided over a forehead formed to wear, with -equal grace and dignity, the diadem of a queen, or the floral wreath of -a nymph; and though strictly feminine in her appearance, none can so -well or so advantageously assume the costume of the opposite sex.” - -As a dancer she excelled in all spirited dances, such as the -_Fandango_, and the _Mazurka_, while in the _Cachucha_ and the -_Cracovienne_, she stirred her audience to a frenzy of admiration. -Thérèse Elssler retired from the stage in 1850. Fanny, a year later, -married a rich banker, withdrew, and died in 1884. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -CARLO BLASIS - - -The Dance and Ballet had made progress during the past two centuries -and had reached the point when, unable to attain to greater -perfection of technique, it needed some fresh artistic inspiration. -Italy, however, had long been degenerate as regards the Dance, her -whole artistic ambition having expressed itself in Opera and an -unrivalled excellence in vocal technique. So that towards the end of -the eighteenth century and for half the nineteenth, her singers were -unmatched throughout the world. - -The introduction of French dancers and the production of some of -the ballets of French composers turned the attention of the lovers -of _bel Canto_ to the possibilities of the sister art. Noverre -had produced some of his ballets at Milan, and his methods and -artistic taste gradually spread through Italy, his influence being -further extended by several of his Italian pupils, such as Rossi and -Angiolini. - -It was not, however, until Carlo Blasis came to preside over the -Imperial Academy of Dancing and Pantomime at Milan, 1837, that the -Italian ballet began to assume any importance, and the Milan Academy, -becoming recognised as the first in Europe, came in turn to influence -Paris, London and other capitals of the world. Indeed, it is hardly -too much to say that probably every opera house which has been -established a century owes something directly or indirectly to the -genius of Carlo Blasis, who in his enthusiasm for, and appreciation -of, the Dance and Ballet, and in his ability to write thereon -was another Noverre, but with an even wider range of talent and -scholarship. - -In the history of art there can be few records of such amazing power -of assimilation, combined with a high standard of achievement. We -have but to glance at a list of his works, to realise this. While -the theory and practice of dancing were his leading theme, one to -which he returned again and again, few things failed to stimulate his -interest and his pen. - -“_Observations sur le Chant et sur l’Expression de la Musique -Dramatique_” were a series of essays contributed to a London paper. -He wrote considerably on the art of Pantomime. He contributed -biographies of Garrick and of Fuseli to a Milan periodical; and -another of Pergolesi to a German paper. A dissertation on “Italian -Dramatic Music in France,” was another of his subjects. He left -in manuscript works on François Premier; on Lucan and his poem of -Pharsalia; on Alexander the Great; on the Influence of the Italian -Genius upon the World; on the then Modern Greek Dances; on “_La -Grande Epoque de Louis XV en France, en Italie, et en Angleterre_”; -a “Lexicon of Universal Erudition”; while perhaps the greatest of -his works--according to contemporary criticism--was “_L’Uomo Fisico, -Intellettuale e Morale_,” a book of some thousand pages. - -His education had been of a kind that should incline him to take, -as Bacon did, “all knowledge,” for his province. Madrolle, the -famous French publicist of his period, described Blasis as “a man -of the most comprehensive mind that he had ever known,” and further -declared him “a universal genius.” Indeed, though he achieved fame -as a _maître de ballet_, he seems really to have been a sort of -super-maître of all the arts. - -He was born at Naples on November 4th, 1803, the son of Francesco -Blasis and Vincenza Coluzzi Zurla Blasis, both, it is said, of noble -descent. The family claimed an ancestry reaching back beyond the -reigns of Tiberius and Augustus, when there were patricians known -as the Blasii. Machiavelli mentions the same family, and various -monuments in Italy and Sicily bear the name of De Blasis. - -When Carlo was two years old, his father, who had forsaken the -ancestral profession of the sea for literature and music, took -his family from Naples to Marseilles, where the _De_ was dropped, -for political reasons, and the name became simply Blasis. Having -studied the tastes and tendencies of his children somewhat carefully -Francesco determined to give his son Carlo a thorough grounding -in the classics and the fine arts. His daughter Teresa was taught -singing and the pianoforte; and his younger daughter Virginia, who -was born at Marseilles, was destined to Opera. It must be set to the -credit of the fond father’s discernment and influence that each of -his children achieved distinction in their own sphere and day. - -The education of Carlo, we are told in a contemporary biography, -“was at once literary and artistic and theatrical.” He showed such -enthusiasm and ability in his studies that it was said that he might -easily have become a painter, a composer of music, or a dancer and -ballet-master. He finally chose the last as his profession owing -to the fact that it offered more lucrative prospects as well as -combining all the varied opportunities for artistic expression which -his young soul craved. In other directions, however, his general -education was not neglected, and the subjects he studied all came to -be employed in the profession he had chosen, rendering him valuable -assistance in dancing, pantomime and the composition of ballets. In -later life when asked how he came to get through such masses of work -as he did he used to declare: “_Le temps ne manque jamais à qui sait -l’employer_,” and to add Tissot’s saying: “_Dormons, dormons, très -peu; vivons toute notre vie, et pendant trois semaines que nous avons -à vivre, ne dormons pas, ne soyons pas morts, pendant quinze jours._” -Indeed, he _lived_ every minute of his incessantly active life, and -in his later years seldom worked less than fifteen hours a day. - -As a lad he studied music, in all its branches, with his father. -Drawing, painting, modelling, architecture, geometry, mathematics, -anatomy, literature and dancing he studied with some of the best -available masters of his period, at Marseilles, Rome, Florence, -Bordeaux, Bologna and Pavia; and when he came to practise his -profession as ballet-master and composer, he was able not only to -evolve the plot of the ballet, and explain every situation, teach -every step and gesture and expression, but to furnish designs for the -costumes, scenery, and mechanical effects. - -He was avid of learning, and absorbed something of value from all -with whom he came in contact. He haunted the artists’ studios and -made a special point of visiting all he could in any town in which -he happened to stay, Thorwaldsen, Longhi and Canova being among the -more prominent of the sculptors and artists whom he came to know. He -became a connoisseur and collector of paintings, sculpture carvings, -cameos, jewellery, old instruments; had a remarkable library, not -only of books in Greek, Latin, Italian, French, English, German and -Spanish, but an interesting collection of music, from Palestrina to -his own time, his library and gallery being valued at somewhere about -ten thousand pounds. - -He started his professional career and travels at the age of twelve, -when he appeared as a dancer in the leading theatre at Marseilles, -then at Aix, Avignon, Lyons, Toulouse; finally settling with his -family for some time at Bordeaux, where he had a very successful -_début_ and where--under the able direction of Dauberval, of whom -we have already heard--most of the best dancers in France appeared -preparatory to an engagement in Paris. - -Blasis then received an invitation to the capital, where his _début_ -was so extraordinarily successful that he was promptly placed in -the front rank, and for a time studied under the famous Gardel, who -thought so highly of him that he selected for him as partner in -several ballets, Mlle. Gosselin, one of the leading dancers at the -Opera, followed by Mlle. Legallois, a dancer of the classic school. - -On account of intrigues and cabals--which are not, alas, unusual in -the theatrical profession, or in any other perhaps--Blasis left the -Opera and was next engaged at Milan, first going on a successful -tour, during which he composed various ballets, notably “Iphigénie en -Aulide,” “La Vestale,” “Fernando Cortez,” “Castor and Pollux,” “Don -Juan” and “Les Mystères d’Isis.” - -His appearance at La Scala, Milan, was triumphant, and he remained -there for fourteen seasons, as dancer and ballet-composer. Then -followed a successful Italian tour. Painters, sculptors and engravers -as well as various poets celebrated his progress, and one Venetian -painter, having seen him dancing some _pas de deux_ with his -famous partner Virginia Leon, in which they entwined and enveloped -themselves in rose-coloured veils--presumably very much as Mordkin -and Pavlova did in the “L’Automne Bacchanale,” made sketches of the -various graceful groupings and afterwards introduced them into the -decorations of an apartment in the house of a rich Venetian nobleman. - -There can be no doubt that the appeal of Blasis’ work to artists was -greatly due not merely to his technical excellence as a dancer but to -the fact that--steeped as he was in the study of music, sculpture and -painting--his work was a living expression of a classic art-spirit. -Again and again in his writings he emphasises the necessity the young -dancer is under of studying not only music, but drawing, painting -and sculpture. In one interesting passage, especially, he remarks: -“It is in the best productions of painting and sculpture that the -dancer may study with profit how to display his figure with taste -and elegance. They are a fountain of beauties, to which all those -should repair who wish to distinguish themselves for the correctness -and purity of their performances. In the Bacchanalian groups which -I have composed, I have successfully introduced various attitudes, -arabesques and groupings, the original idea of which was suggested -to me, during my journey to Naples and through _Magna Grecia_, on -viewing the paintings, bronzes and sculptures rescued from the ruins -of Herculaneum.” - -The publication at Milan, of his first work, in French, _A -Theoretical, Practical and Elementary Treatise on the Art of -Dancing_, brought Blasis into prominent notice throughout the -Continent and in London, owing to press notices and demands for -translations of a work that was unrivalled of its kind and is -valuable to-day. - -In 1826 Blasis came to London, where, at the King’s Theatre, -Haymarket, he was triumphantly received as dancer, actor and -ballet-composer. He remained here for some time, and in 1829-1830 -published his still more important work, in English, namely, _The -Code of Terpsichore_ in which the whole subject of dancing is -dealt with exhaustively. The book was “embellished” with numerous -line-engravings, accompanied by music, composed by his sisters, -Virginia and Teresa Blasis, and was dedicated to Virginia, then Prima -Donna of the Italian Opera at Paris. The work was an instant success -and did much to further the aim which Blasis had in all his writings, -namely, the raising of the art of the Dance and Ballet nearer to a -level with the other imitative arts. - -[Illustration: Carlo Blasis - -(_From a lithograph_).] - -The _maître_ now divided his time between England and Italy, -sometimes appearing as a dancer, sometimes producing ballets of his -own composition; or yet again as journalist and author, contributing -articles to leading reviews, or seeing some fresh volume through the -press, always occupied in propagating his school and principles, -demonstrating his method, and putting into practice wherever he went -every new improvement or suggestion which could advance the cause -he had at heart; always encouraging and inspiring all those of his -profession with whom he came in touch, with a newer and higher idea -of the possibilities of theatrical dance and ballet. It was now said, -indeed, that “all who followed the same profession became either his -disciples or imitators.” - -His triumphs as a dancer, however, were unhappily cut short during an -engagement at the San Carlo, Naples, by an accident which occurred -during rehearsal, some unaccountable injury to the left leg, for -which every remedy was tried without avail. Though he was not unable -henceforth to perform the simpler and more natural movements he found -himself handicapped by a certain stiffness that made anything like a -_cabriole_ or _entrechat_ impossible, and wisely decided to retire -rather than diminish the fame he had already acquired as a dancer. -Hereafter it was as a composer of ballets and as a widely informed -writer on the arts that he elected to occupy himself, and in Italy, -France and England--notably at Drury Lane--his productions both -on the stage and in the Press, won him increasing recognition and -respect. - -In 1837 Blasis was appointed by the Italian Government Director of -the Imperial Academy of Dancing and Pantomime at Milan, where the -reforms he introduced and the new artistic ideal he created shortly -raised it to the position of the leading Academy of the world. - -By the end of the eighteenth century dancing and ballet at the Paris -Opera, had grown, as we have seen, a stiff, formal, dull affair. -Carlo Blasis’ rule at the Milan Academy, which put new life into the -art, had a tremendous influence throughout the Continent, so much so -indeed that Russia, Austria, France, and even England _all_ to-day -owe something to the traditions of style and efficiency his genius -laid down at that time. - -The system of training he instituted then is still much the same in -present-day opera-houses, from which most of the famous dancers are -drawn. Pupils entered the Milan Academy at an early age. No one was -admitted before the age of eight years, nor after twelve, if a girl, -or fourteen, if a boy. They were to be medically examined, and be -proved to have a robust constitution and to be in good health. They -had to be children of respectable parents; and, when admitted, were -to remain in the school, devoted to its service and to the service of -the theatre for eight years. For the first three years they were to -be considered as apprentices and receive no salary; those who were -qualified for performance in the theatre came to receive progressive -salaries. Their daily practice in the school was for three hours in -the morning, from nine to twelve, at dancing; after which they were -to be exercised in the art of pantomime for one hour. - -To-day the training is just as severe and much the same. For the -Russian ballet pupils enter the Academy at Petrograd at the age -of nine and remain till eighteen. Madame Karsavina, one of the -most finished dancers in the world, has told us how, even now, she -continues to practise a couple of hours or more every day. - -A well-known Italian _maître de ballet_ at a famous West End theatre -once told me that he always practised dancing from two to three hours -a day, and “pantomime” or “mime,” as it is usually called, from one -to two hours. Mlle. Génée, too, has stated that she practises from -two to three hours daily. Such practice is necessary, not merely to -a pupil, but to a finished and successful dancer to keep the limbs -absolutely supple and enable the artist to give that impression of -consummate ease in performing the most difficult steps, which is the -true test of the really great dancer; while the study of “miming” -is equally necessary, since it is the art which gives life and -expression to the dance. - -Before a dancer has achieved the distinction of becoming a “star,” it -may be safely reckoned that she has had from eight to ten years daily -drudgery, and that her earlier years have been without financial -reward, and may even have involved her parents or relatives in -considerable expense for her training or apprenticeship. Given the -physique, the instinct for dancing, and the intelligence, what then -must the prospective “star” expect before she can become a _première -danseuse_, or even a “seconde”? - -Go into any large school where “toe-dancing” is taught and what will -you see? A large, barely furnished room, on one or two, or perhaps on -all sides of which is fixed a bar or pole, some four feet from the -ground. Here, having already been thoroughly grounded in the “five -positions,” which every dancer learns, the pupils, perhaps a dozen or -more in number, ranging from eight upwards, will be found at “side -practice,” as it is called, going through the various “positions” -and steps, while one hand rests on the bar. Here she goes through -the fatiguing and endless training known as practice “on the bar,” -learning “_battements_,” which consist in moving one leg in the air, -now forward, now back, while the other, on tip-toe, supports the -body; learning the even more difficult _ronds de jambes_, or circles -made by one leg while resting on the other; learning all the while -to get the legs free and supple, to keep the shoulders down and the -elbows loose, before proceeding to the more complex steps and poses. - -After incessant drilling at the bar comes the “centre practice,” in -which many of the same positions and steps are repeated with new and -more difficult ones, away from the bar; until little by little after -months, indeed, it may be years, of incessant practice, the young -dancer becomes qualified to take a place in the minor ranks of the -ballet where, in watching the more finished work of the _première -danseuse_, she is further inspired to yet more arduous practice -in the school or at home, in the hope of achieving a perfection -that shall bring her similar rewards--a princely income, unlimited -bouquets, and the clamorous applause of an adoring audience. - -All this is severe enough training; but the dancer’s training always -has been severe. The hard thing, from the ballet composer’s point of -view is--that the individuality and artistic spirit of the dancer is, -only too often, crushed by the training or at least subordinated to -an exaltation of mere technique. Technique is a necessity, of course. -But it was in the power of such men as Noverre and Blasis to inspire -in their disciples something more than an emulation for technical -efficiency, and to give them an artistic ideal which made the -drudgery of their training seem worth while as a means of attaining -to greater ease of artistic expression. Blasis’ influence undoubtedly -ran like a quickening spirit through the capitals of Europe and led -the way to that great revival of romantic ballet which marked the era -of the ’forties and found its fullest and most poetic expression in -the idealism of Taglioni. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -MARIE TAGLIONI (“SYLPHIDE”) - - -The great theatrical sensation of the mid-’forties was the famous -_Pas de Quatre_, composed of Lucile Grahn, Fanny Cerito, Carlotta -Grisi, and Marie Taglioni, the last-named making a welcome return -to the stage after an absence of some years. This was in 1845. -Taglioni’s reappearance and a dispute between the dancers as to the -order of their _entrée_ gave the event a handsome advertisement. - -In the end the difficulty was settled by Lumley, the manager of the -Opera, deciding that, as Mlle. Taglioni herself was indifferent as to -when she made her entrance, they should appear according to age, the -youngest first; and in consequence Lucile Grahn led the quartette, -a crescendo of applause finishing in a terrific climax as Taglioni, -greatest of them all, appeared, and, as one witness declared, “the -whole house went clean mad.” - -Marie Taglioni, greatest of the four, was the first to give the -impulse towards the creation of that new school which the others -represented. The technique of all four was virtually the same, that -which had always been traditional. In the foundations of their art -all were of the old school. All had been thoroughly drilled in the -eternal “five positions.” But in the spirit of this art all were as -new for their period, and by contrast with the eighteenth-century -school, as Camargo had been when she first quickened that school -by the introduction of a fresher inspiration and new miracles of -execution; and as Sallé had been when she had striven to replace the -convention of pannier and cuirasse for classic hero and heroine, with -a costume nearer to Hellenic truth and beauty. And of the four who -made theatrical dancing in the ’forties of last century what it was, -Taglioni was the pioneer. - -She was one of a family of Taglionis. There was Louise, who had won -distinction at the Opera under the Empire, and who had a sister so -beautiful that when she left the stage to marry an Italian gentleman -and settle down at Venice, it came to be a proverb, “To see Venice -and the beautiful Contarini.” Marie was the niece of these two. - -Born at Stockholm in 1804, she was the daughter of Philip Taglioni -(1777-1871), a ballet-master from Milan, and a Swedish mother, _née_ -Anna Karsten, whose grandfather had been a famous actor and singer -at the Swedish Court. In these two strains probably we have one of -the secrets of Marie Taglioni’s art, for, while from the Italian side -she would have inherited that passion for technique which is innate -in the Latin races, from the maternal she would have received the -impulse towards a poetic and dreamy idealism which is characteristic -of the North. - -Add to this the fact that her father was not only a really -accomplished teacher of dancing but was steeped in the romantic -legends and poetry of Scandinavia, and we are better able to -understand how it was the stiff formalism and poetic conventionalities -of Ballet in the pre-Taglioni period had to succumb to the new breath -of inspiration which was to set all London and Paris raving of its -beauty in the ’forties, and fire even so temperate and cynical an -observer as Thackeray to enthusiastic expressions of admiration of -Marie Taglioni in “Sylphide.” - -As a child she was unprepossessing to look at and had physical -defects. It is said that when the famous dancing master, Coulon, was -consulted as to the teaching of the child, he exclaimed: “What _can_ -I do with that little hunch-back?” - -Nevertheless, her father intended that she should become a dancer, -and, taking her in hand himself, a dancer she became; with the result -that--to adapt the expression of an ingenious French critic--between -them they ultimately _taglionised_ the Ballet. - -Marie made her first appearance at Vienna in 1822, in a ballet -bearing the lengthy title, “Réception d’une jeune nymphe à la cour de -Terpsichore.” Her father had arranged a _pas_ for her _début_, but in -her confusion, it is said, she forgot it, and substituted another of -her own invention, which proved a triumphant success. - -From Vienna she went to Stuttgart, where the Queen of Würtemberg -became so attached to her that she treated her like a sister, and was -seen to shed tears on the occasion of Taglioni’s last appearance at -the Stuttgart Opera House. She next proceeded to Munich, where she -was equally well received by the royal family, finally making her -_début_ at Paris on July 23rd, 1827, in a ballet called “Le Sicilien.” - -Her appearance was an immediate success, and was followed by fresh -triumphs in “La Vestale,” “Fernando Cortez,” “Les Bayadères” and -“Le Carnaval de Venise,” this first engagement terminating on -August 10th. One critic of her time writes enthusiastically of the -effect she created with: “_sa grâce naïve, ses poses décentes et -voluptueuses, son extrême légèreté, la nouveauté de sa danse, dont -les effets semblaient appartenir aux inspirations de la nature au -lieu d’être les résultats des combinaisons de l’art et du travail -de l’école, produisirent une sensation très vive sur le public. -Le talent d’une virtuose qui s’éloigne de la route battue par ses -devanciers, trouve des opposants que la continuité des succès ne -désarme pas toujours: il n’y eut qu’une voix sur Mlle. Taglioni: tout -le monde fut enchanté, ravi._” - -The Ballet had grown formalised, stale. Taglioni came as spirit from -another sphere to infuse new vitality and idealism into its wearied -splendour, and she provided jaded opera lovers with a new thrill. -After her Parisian _début_, she was re-engaged for the following year -and returned in the April of 1828 to win further admiration in “Les -Bayadères,” and “Lydie” and “Psyché”; then, the year after, in “La -Belle au Bois dormant,” a fifteen years’ engagement being finally -offered to her at the Opera, with intervals of absence sufficient to -enable her to pay visits to Germany, Russia, Italy and England, when, -in every country, she achieved fresh triumphs. - -Her London _début_ at the benefit of Laporte, manager at Her -Majesty’s Theatre, took place on June 3rd, 1830, in Didelot’s ballet -of “Flore et Zephire.” - -A contemporary account of her dancing says: “Taglioni unquestionably -combines the finest requisites for eminence in her art. The union -she displays of muscular ability with the most feminine delicacy of -frame and figure is truly extraordinary. A charming simplicity, the -principal characteristic of her demeanour on the stage--an utter -absence of that false consequence and _bombast_ of carriage and -manner which have so peculiarly marked too many artistes of our time; -and a native grace and matchless precision in her movements, even -those in which the most astonishing difficulties are conquered, and -which yet appear to demand of _her_ no effort, leave us delighted -with the _fairyism_ of the lovely being before us ... and enchant -us into forgetfulness of the unwearied perseverance and application -by which, in aid of the lavish gifts of Nature, such unrivalled -excellence has been attained.” - -Every contemporary account of Taglioni insists always on that one -note, the _idealism_ of her art. The late Mme. Katti-Lanner, who saw -her dance, told me once that she appeared like some fairy being -always about to soar away from the earth to which she seemed so -little to belong. - -Was it not Victor Hugo who inscribed a volume which he sent to her: -“_à vos pieds--à vos ailes_”? - -It was but natural then that she should be the ideal exponent of the -title-_rôle_ in that graceful Ballet “Sylphide,” which was produced -at Paris on March 14th, 1832. - -The importance of the new influence brought to bear on the art -of Ballet by the advent of Taglioni and the contrast between the -older and the newer schools was well defined by Théophile Gautier -who, writing of “Sylphide” said: “_Ce ballet commença pour la -chorégraphie une ère toute nouvelle et ce fut par lui que le -romantisme s’introduisit dans le domaine de Terpsichore. A dater -de la ‘Sylphide,’ les ‘Filets de Vulcain,’ ‘Flore et Zephire’ ne -furent plus possibles: l’Opéra fut livré aux gnomes, aux ondins, aux -salamandres, aux elfes, aux nixes, aux willis, aux péris et à tout -ce peuple étrange et mystérieux qui se prête si merveilleusement aux -fantaisies du maître de ballet. Les douze maisons de marbre et d’or -des Olympies furent reléguées dans la poussière des magasins, et l’on -ne commanda plus aux décorateurs que des forêts romantiques, que des -vallées éclairées par le joli clair de lune allemand des ballades de -Henri Heine...._” - -The poet Méry remarked of the new dancer: “_Avec Mlle. Taglioni la -danse s’est élevée à la sainteté d’un art._” That is just what she -achieved. Dancing, which had become a mechanical display of technical -_tours de force_, was restored to the dignity--or sanctity--of an art. - -But her influence extended further. She enlarged the perspective of -the stage effects. The stiff formalism of “classic” scenes, of neat -temples and trim vistas gave place to mysterious lakes and umbrageous -forests, vast spaces that stirred the imagination and prepared the -mind for the _entrée_ of visionary dancers. - -The story of “Sylphide” is of the love of a sylph for a handsome -young Highland peasant, who is haunted by visions of her in his -dreams and memories of the vision on awaking, so much so that the -heart of his own betrothed is broken and his brain is turned by the -manifestation of his aerial love, who herself becomes the victim -of an unhappier fate by a terrible spell cast on her by infernal -powers and woven during a witches’ sabbath, which forms one of the -more impressive scenes of the ballet. The plot was adapted from -Charles Nodier’s story, _Trilby_, by Adolphe Nourrit, and the music -by Schneitzhöffer was pronounced “excellent” by Castil-Blaze, who -remarked that it was an “_Œuvre infiniment remarquable dans un genre -qui peut devenir important lorsqu’un homme de talent et d’esprit -veut bien l’adopter_.” He also reports of the first production of -“Sylphide” in Paris, that it had a _succès merveilleux_. - -Elsewhere Taglioni’s success was no less remarkable. Indeed, -wheresoever she went she achieved a triumph. At Petrograd such -tempting offers were made by the Emperor and Empress that she -prolonged her stay for three years, and left laden with gifts from -their Imperial Majesties. At Vienna, on one occasion, having been -called before the curtain twenty-two times, when she finally got -away from the Opera House her carriage was drawn to her hotel by -forty young men of the leading Austrian families. In London she was -worshipped by the public, and was one of the special admirations of -the youthful Queen Victoria, some of whose dolls (as in the case of -Brocard, Pauline Leroux, and other dancers) were dressed to represent -the characters Taglioni played, and may be seen to-day in the London -Museum. - -[Illustration: Marie Taglioni - -(_From a lithograph dated 1833_).] - -[Illustration: The Pas de Quatre of 1845 - -(_Lucille Grahn, Fanny Cerito, Carlotta Grisi, and in the centre -Marie Taglioni_).] - -Taglioni was married to Gilbert, Comte de Voisins, in 1835, but the -marriage was not a happy one and was dissolved in 1844. She retired -for a little time, but returned to the stage again and appeared in -London, with triumphant success, in 1845. - -The climax of a great season came in July of that year, when, at -the request of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, the _Pas de Quatre_, to -which reference has already been made, was arranged for the four -great dancers, Taglioni, Cerito, Carlotta Grisi and Lucile Grahn. One -critic remarked that the appearance of four such stars on the same -boards and in the same _pas_ was “truly what our Gallic neighbours -call _une solennité théâtrale_, and such a one as none of those who -beheld it are likely to witness again.” - -It was, he declared rightly, “an event unparalleled in theatrical -annals, and one which, some two score years hence, may be handed down -to a new generation by garrulous septuagenarians as one of the most -brilliant reminiscences of days gone by.” - -Without being a septuagenarian, or being in a position to remember an -event about which to grow garrulous, all who have studied theatrical -history at all can freely endorse the remark. Probably never in any -theatre was seen such excitement as there was on this occasion. -Contemporary testimony, when authoritative, is always valuable in -such cases, and as there is no better account of the famous “Pas de -Quatre” than that given by the _Illustrated London News_ of that day, -July 19th, 1845, it may be quoted at length with advantage. - -Speaking of the curiosity which so unusual an event must necessarily -excite, and which led him to “hurry” to the theatre, the writer -declared that: - - “curiosity and every other feeling was merged in admiration - when the four great dancers commenced the series of picturesque - groupings with which this performance opens. We can safely say we - have never witnessed a scene more perfect in all its details. The - greatest of painters, in his loftiest flights, could hardly have - conceived, and certainly never executed, a group more faultless - and more replete with grace and poetry than that formed by these - four _danseuses_: Taglioni in the midst, her head thrown backwards, - apparently reclining in the arms of her sister nymphs. Could such - a combination have taken place in the ancient palmy days of art, - the pencil of the painter and the song of the poet would alike have - been employed to perpetuate its remembrance. No description can - render the exquisite, and almost ethereal grace of movement and - attitude of these great dancers, and those who have witnessed the - scene, may boast of having once, at least, seen the perfection of - the art of dancing so little understood. There was no affectation, - no apparent exertion or struggle for effect on the part of these - gifted artistes; and though they displayed their utmost resources, - there was a simplicity and ease, the absence of which would have - completely broken the spell they threw around the scene. Of the - details of this performance it is difficult to speak. In the - _solo_ steps executed by each _danseuse_, each in turn seemed to - claim pre-eminence. Where every one in her own style is perfect, - peculiar individual taste alone may balance in favour of one or the - other, but the award of public applause must be equally bestowed; - and, for our own part, we confess that our _penchant_ for the - peculiar style, and our admiration for the dignity, the repose, and - exquisite grace which characterise Taglioni, and the dancer who - has so brilliantly followed the same track (Lucile Grahn), did not - prevent our warmly appreciating the charming archness and twinkling - steps of Carlotta Grisi, or the wonderful flying leaps and - revolving bounds of Cerito. Though, as we have said, each displayed - her utmost powers, the emulation of the fair dancers was, if we may - trust appearances, unaccompanied by envy. - - “Every time a shower of bouquets descended, on the conclusion of - a _solo pas_ of one or other of the fair _ballerines_, her sister - dancers came forward to assist her in collecting them; and both - on Saturday and Tuesday did Cerito offer to crown Taglioni with a - wreath which had been thrown in homage to the queen of the dance. - We were also glad to see on the part of the audience far less of - partisanship than had been displayed two or three years since, on - the performance of a _pas de deux_ between Elssler and Cerito. The - applause was universal, and equally distributed. This, however, - did not take from the excitement of the scene. The house, crowded - to the roof, presented a concourse of the most eager faces, never - diverted for a moment from the performance; and the extraordinary - tumult of enthusiastic applause, joined to the delightful effect of - the spectacle presented, imparted to the whole scene an interest - and excitement that can hardly be imagined.” - -Yet another triumph for Ballet was scored in the following season, -July, 1846, when Taglioni’s appearance in “La Gitana” having been -hailed with quite extraordinary enthusiasm, there came a piece of -managerial enterprise equalling that of the famous _Pas de Quatre_. - -A new ballet by Perrot, “Les Tribulations d’un Maître de Ballet,” was -arranged for production and during the performance a _pas_ was to -have been introduced, combining the matchless three--Grahn, Cerito -and Taglioni, supported also by the niece of the last named, Louise -Taglioni; and St. Leon, husband of Cerito; and Perrot, husband of -Carlotta Grisi. - -This _pas_ for the leading dancers was intended to form part of -a _divertissement_ entitled “Le Jugement de Pâris,” which the -aforesaid _maître de ballet_ was supposed to be arranging and to be -having “tribulations” about. But on putting the _divertissement_ -into rehearsal the idea was found to be so attractive and to assume -such importance as to overshadow the rest of the production and the -“Jugement de Pâris” was therefore detached and staged as a separate -ballet in itself with the happiest result. - -The _pas_ so isolated was of course the famous _Pas des Déesses_, the -goddesses naturally being the fair rivals Juno, Minerva and Venus, -impersonated by the three great _ballerines_, who contended for the -apple thrown by the Goddess of Discord, and awarded by Paris to the -most beautiful of the three. - -Needless to say, with such dancers, the production found favour with -audiences and critics, one of whom wrote: - - “The idea of this _pas_ is an excellent one; for it is an important - qualification in choregraphic compositions, that the dancing should - appear to be a necessary result of the action--that an intelligible - idea should be conveyed by it, and a story kept up throughout. - Without this, dancing, however beautiful in itself, loses half - its charm to those who look for something more in it than mere - power and grace of motion. Here there is a purpose in the varied - attitudes and graceful evolutions of each _danseuse_, as she is - supposed to be endeavouring to outstrip her rivals, and vindicate - her right to the disputed apple; and the effect is a charming one, - independently of the interest and excitement that must inevitably - attach to the combined performance of such unequalled artists - as these. The _Graces_, enacted by Louise Taglioni, Demississe, - and Cassan; _Cupid_, by that graceful child, Mdlle. Lamoureux; - _Mercure_, by Perrot, etc., etc., are all numbered amongst the - _dramatis personæ_ of the _ballet_, and a more charming combination - could hardly be met with. - - “Taglioni is, however, the principal ‘star’ at the present moment. - Those who have visited Her Majesty’s Theatre predetermined to find - her marvellous talent diminished, and to ‘regret’ her reappearance - on the English stage, have come away enchanted, despite themselves, - at that marvellous union of unrivalled agility, with the most - perfect grace and elegance, in which no dancer has as yet equalled - her. If there is any change perceptible, she seems to have advanced - in her art--in person, an increase of _embonpoint_ has proved - decidedly favourable to her appearance. It is, no doubt, in the - _danse noble_ that she excels; but in every style of dancing the - _je ne sais quoi_ of peculiar refinement and grace, for which she - is remarkable in her style, distinguishes her. As long as Taglioni - continues to dance, she will continue to excite an enthusiasm of - applause, as the famous Guimard, styled in 1770, ‘La Reine de la - Danse,’ had done before her. A peculiar gentleness and amiability - of look, and a dignity of manner which never abandons Taglioni, is - in admirable keeping with the style of her dancing; and, if we may - believe report, these do not belie her real character.” - -As a matter of fact, the appearances and “report” did _not_ belie her -character, for Taglioni always won the respect and love of all she -met. She had done so abroad, where crowned heads and royal families -had made a friend of her, enchanted with her sweetness and modesty, -and won to equal respect by her innate dignity of character. - -It was the same in London, where, it is said, she received not -only the generous homage of her stage colleagues and was offered a -superb testimonial at the close of the season of 1846, but also met -with special favour from Queen Victoria herself, who was as much a -connoisseur of good dancing as she was of virtuous conduct. - -It may have been by reason of this that Taglioni was appointed -teacher of dancing and deportment to some of the younger members -of the English Royal Family; and later undertook the tuition of a -few favoured young dancers. Yet Fortune did not favour her always, -and she died at Marseilles on April 25th, 1884; like Guimard, also -neglected and in poverty. But while there is one to read the records -of the stage her name will survive as one of the founders and supreme -exponents of the idealistic school of Ballet. - - - TAGLIONI (“SYLPHIDE”) - - “Slim, virginal, upon the stage she springs: - And joy forthwith relumines weary eyes - That, looking ever on dull mundane things, - Long had forgot youth’s heritage of joy: - Slim, virginal, clad in resplendent white - With floral coronal and fluttering wings - She stands serenely poised; then, swift to rise, - Gleams like a sunlit dove in sudden flight: - So, once again, return to our dulled sight - Dreams of a golden age without alloy. - - “How many sages sought in ancient time - Some magic stone transmuting all to gold; - Elixirs rare have many yearned to find, - Recalling refluent youth ere life depart; - How many strove to conjure from the air, - From water, earth or fire with subtle art - The elemental beings therein divined! - - “But thou, with art more potent and sublime, - Transmutest all! None seeing thee is old! - All hearts forlorn, from dross of woe are freed! - And in the magic glamour of thy grace, - Hope’s listless wings win strength once more to fare - Towards that Ideal whose lineaments we trace - Importally incarnate in--‘Sylphide!’” - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -CARLOTTA GRISI (GISELLE) - - -Seldom is a good dancer also a born singer; and still more rarely do -both talents develop simultaneously to such a point that there can be -any serious doubt as to which to relinquish in favour of the other. -Yet such was the happy fate of Carlotta Grisi, the cousin of the two -famous singing sisters, Giuditta and Giulia Grisi. - -Carlotta at one time showed such promise of becoming a vocalist -that no less a person than the great Malibran advised her to devote -her life to singing. But when Perrot, the famous ballet-master, who -had received his _congé_ from the Paris Opera, saw her, when she -was earning her living as a dancer at Naples, he was clever enough -to suggest that she should develop _both_ talents, fully intending -that under his encouragement and tuition she should become at least -a finished _danseuse_, for he saw in the future of such a pupil -an opportunity of securing his own return to the Opera. Moreover, -although--as a famous _maîtresse de ballet_ of our time once -described him to me--“ogly as sin,” he managed to become her husband! - -Carlotta Grisi was born in 1821 at Visnida, in Upper Istria, in -a palace built for the Emperor Francis II. When a mere child of -five years old she was dancing, with other children, at the Scala, -Milan, where she danced with such grace that she was nicknamed _La -petite Heberlé_, a Mlle. Heberlé then being a very popular star. -Subsequently she toured with a company through Italy appearing at -Florence, Rome, Naples, and it was here she met and became the pupil -and then wife of Perrot. - -Brief visits to London, Vienna, Milan, Naples followed, the young -dancer gathering fresh triumphs at each, until finally she made her -Parisian _début_ at the Renaissance on February 28th, 1840. Here -she appeared both as singer and dancer in “Le Zingaro,” but on the -closing of the theatre she went in February, 1841, to the Opera, and -achieved an instant success in “La Favorita.” From that moment her -career was one of continued triumph. - -In June of that year she appeared in “_Giselle, ou les Willis, ballet -en deux actes, de MM. de Saint Georges, Th. Gautier et Coralli, -musique de M. Adam, décors de M. Ciceri_,” as it is described on my -copy of the original libretto. Carlotta’s appearance in it was _the_ -artistic sensation of the Continent. - -“Giselle” is founded on one of those romantic legendary themes in -which Germany was once so rich, and tells of the fate of a village -girl who falls a victim to the mysterious _Willis_, or spirits of -betrothed girls who in life were passionately fond of dancing, who -have died ere marriage, and are doomed after death to dance every -night from midnight to dawn, luring whom they may to the same fate. -This, and the story of shattered hope and love forlorn, which bring -about poor little Giselle’s destruction, are the two leading themes -of a ballet which, touching both the heights of gaiety and depths -of tragedy, is rich in every element that can interest or charm, -and presents many dramatic situations that demand from a supremely -accomplished dancer a power of mimic expression, intensity and poetic -sympathy that are rare. Carlotta Grisi was ideally equipped, and she -was _par excellence_--Giselle. A revival of the second act, under the -title of “les Sylphides,” was given by the Russian dancers at the -Coliseum a few seasons ago. - -Gautier’s admiration for Grisi was enthusiastic. “_Qu’est-ce que -Giselle?_” he asked the day after the first performance, thus -answering his own question: “_Giselle, c’est Carlotta Grisi, une -charmante fille aux yeux bleus, au sourire fin et naïf, à la démarche -alerte, une Italienne qui a l’air d’une Allemande à s’y tromper, -comme l’Allemande Fanny avait l’air d’une Andalouse de Séville.... -Pour la pantomime, elle a dépassé toutes les espérances. Pas un geste -de convention. Pas un mouvement faux. C’est la nature prise sur le -fait._” - -Another of her admirers described Carlotta in the following quaint -terms: “... a blonde beauty; her eyes are of a soft and lovely -blue, her mouth is small, and her complexion is of a rare freshness -and delicacy.... Her figure is symmetrical, for, though slight, -she has not that anatomical thinness, which is so common among the -_danseuses_ of the Académie Royale. Her grace is not more surprising -than her aplomb. She never appears to exert herself, but can execute -the most incredible _tours de force_ with a perfect tranquillity.” - -Grisi’s success in London was stupendous. She appeared here at Drury -Lane, and later at Her Majesty’s, for the Opera seasons. On her -farewell appearance in “The Peri” (by Théophile Gautier, Coralli -and Burgmüller) at the end of the season in November, 1843, the -_Illustrated London News_ gave the following note: - - “Carlotta Grisi took her farewell of an English audience on - Saturday night (i.e. November 18th, 1843) in the popular ballet of - ‘The Peri,’ when a brilliant company was present to bid adieu to - their favourite dancer. On the entrance of Mdlle. Grisi, there was - one unanimous burst of applause, and each movement of her graceful - figure was the signal for renewed approbation. When the famous - leap was given, cries of _encore_ re-echoed from every part of the - house, and once again the favourite, with a spirit undaunted, - leaped into the arms of the lover in the ballet. The applause - continued undiminished until the fall of the curtain--then the - enthusiasm became a _furore_, and the name of ‘Grisi’ was uttered - by a thousand voices. She soon appeared, led on by Petipa, and in - looks more expressive than words, spoke her thanks for the kindness - which she has received and merited. Wreaths and bouquets were - plenteously showered on the dancer, and our artist has attempted a - representation of the enthusiastic scene. - - “After the performances, Mr. Bunn gave an elegant supper in the - grand saloon of the theatre to about seventy of his friends - and patrons. The entertainment was intended as a complimentary - leave-taking to Carlotta Grisi, on her quitting London to fulfil - her engagements in Paris. After proposing the health of Carlotta - Grisi, Mr. Bunn presented that lady with a superb bracelet of black - enamel, richly ornamented with diamonds, as a slight _souvenir_ of - her highly successful career at Drury Lane Theatre. Attached to the - bracelet was the following inscription: ‘_Présenté à Mlle. Carlotta - Grisi, la danseuse la plus poétique de l’univers, avec les hommages - respectueux de son directeur A. Bunn, Théâtre Royal, Drury Lane, - 18th November, 1843._’” - -A contemporary enthusiast, writing of her in 1846, said: “Her -name is henceforth inseparably connected with the charming and -poetic creations which her own grace and beauty have immortalised: -‘Giselle,’ ‘Beatrix,’ ‘La Péri,’ have attained a celebrity equal -to that of ‘La Sylphide’ and ‘La Fille du Danube,’ and the most -devoted admirer of Taglioni can scarcely refuse a tribute of homage -to the bewitching elegance of Carlotta Grisi. Wherever she goes, -her reception is the same; if she is idolised in Paris, she is -adored in London. The impression produced by her performance of ‘La -Péri,’ at Drury Lane, in 1843, will not be easily forgotten, and her -more recent triumph in the ‘Pas de Quatre’ is still fresh in the -recollection of the _habitués_ of the Opera. Nor must we omit her -last creations of Mazourka in the ‘Diable à Quatre’ and ‘Paquita.’ It -is impossible to describe the fascinating _naïveté_ of her manner, -the arch and lively humour of her pantomime, and the extraordinary -precision and grace of her dancing!” High praise, certainly! But, -evidently not exaggerated, for all contemporary accounts of Grisi are -equally enthusiastic. - -Carlotta’s married life was not entirely happy. She had many -admirers, and her husband had a temper, and though she always kept -the former at a discreet distance, the latter was not so easily -managed, and after a few years of marriage, which had apparently -been entered upon more as a matter of mutual interest than mutual -affection, she and her husband agreed to separate. Grisi left the -stage in 1857 at the climax of her success, and retired to live -quietly in Switzerland, where she died only a few years ago. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -FANNY CERITO (“ONDINE”) - - -Of the great quartette, Cerito was the especial pet of London -audiences, among whom she was always known as the “divine” Fanny. - -This but echoed the pretty worship of her good old father to whom -she was always “La Divinita,” and who in the heyday of her success -used to go about with his pockets stuffed with her old shoes, and -fragments of the floral crowns which had been thrown to her on the -stage. - -From the time of her birth at Naples, in 1821, he had guarded her, -and his pride in her talent and her triumphs was but natural, seeing -how young she was, how early she won fame, and how great was her -charm. - -She made her _début_ at the San Carlo, Naples, in 1835, in a ballet -called “The Horoscope.” She then toured, appearing at most of the -Italian cities. Even before she had left Italy she had earned, on her -_début_ at Milan, the complimentary title of “the fourth Grace,” one -of the many “fourth” Graces the world has seen since ancient classic -days! - -After Italy there followed a couple of years at Vienna and then, -strangely enough, reversing the customary order of things, her London -_début_ was made some years before she appeared in Paris. She was -seen regularly in London for some seasons from 1840 onwards. - -In May, 1841, she appeared at Her Majesty’s, in the “Lac des Fées,” -with great success; in June “Sylphide” was revived for her, and on -August 12th she took her benefit, to which people flocked from all -parts of London and, notwithstanding the usual deserted state of -town at such a time, the audience was one of the biggest and most -fashionable on record. Then she went on a brief visit to Liverpool, -and then returned for a time to Vienna. - -It was in the two ballets, “Alma” and “Ondine,” that the beauteous -Fanny achieved her greatest triumphs, in the former representing -a fire-spirit, in the latter, a water-nymph given, as was Hans -Andersen’s little Mermaid, mortal life and form. - -She appeared in “Alma,” a ballet by Deshayes, on its first production -in London during July, 1842, on the night when the famous “Persiani” -row took place, and which was said to be worse than several similar -riots in the previous year at the Opera. Mme. Persiani had been “too -ill to sing,” and the audience had been incredulous. Comparative -quiet was at length secured by the respected manager, Lumley, -and, as a journal of the time quaintly records: “A beautiful, -sylph-like Cerito, danced in the splendid ballet of ‘Alma,’ and by -her inspiration hushed the stormy elements with a repose that ought -always to reign when genius and talent are supreme.” - -Another chronicler speaks of the “new and glittering ballet of -‘Alma,’ which reflects the greatest credit on the inventor, M. -Deshayes,” and adds: “We have no hesitation in saying that this is -the ballet of all ballets, and carries our memory back to our young, -innocent and merry days of juvenility, when care was not care, -and tears not tears of woe, to the days of bright sunny smiles, -when fairies in our eyes _were_ fairies, and when the brilliant -realisations of the doings of ‘Cherry and Fair Star’ were real, -existing things of creation, and part and parcelling of our then -dreamy nature and being. Such is the new ballet of ‘Alma.’ It is one -of the best ever put on the opera boards.” That this impression was -created was due certainly to the talent, both as actress and dancer, -of Cerito, for whom the ballet had been specially composed. - -Apropos of her great popularity in London a contemporary record -mentions an interesting “fact which will bear testimony at once to -her perfect embodiment of the poetry of motion and her excellent -private character,” namely, that “The Queen Dowager of England was -lately graciously pleased to bestow on her a splendid enamel brooch, -set with diamonds, and accompanied by a most flattering message.” - -“Alma” was succeeded in the following year by “Ondine,” also composed -specially for her, by Perrot, with admirable music by Pugni, and -produced at Her Majesty’s on June 22nd, 1843. The plot is somewhat -like that of Hans Andersen’s story, “The Little Mermaid,” and the -production gave Cerito fine opportunities for expressive miming -as well as dancing, one of the great moments of the ballet being -the scene in which the little Naiad realises at last the mortal -life which has been given her, when, for the first time she sees -her shadow cast by the moonlight; and then came one of the chief -sensations of the ballet--Cerito’s dancing of the famous _pas de -l’ombre_, a thing of such beauty that the audience wished it a joy -for ever. - -Cerito made her Parisian _début_ with success in 1847, in a ballet -called “La Fille de Marbre,” composed by St. Leon. - -A French critic, speaking of her personal attractions, described her -as “_petite et dodue ... les bras ronds et d’un contour moelleux, les -yeux bleus, le sourire facile, la jambe forte, le pied petit, mais -épais, la chevelure blonde, mais rebelle_.” A charming little picture. - -[Illustration: Fanny Cerito and St. Leon] - -[Illustration: Lucille Grahn and Perrot] - -Another critic wrote: “Short in stature and round in frame, Cerito -is one example of how grace will overcome the lack of personal -elegance, how mental animation will convey vivacity and attraction to -features which, in repose, are heavy and inexpressive. With a figure -which would be too redundant, were it not for its extreme flexibility -and abandon, Cerito is yet a charming _artiste_, who has honourably -earned a high popularity and deservedly retained it.” - -Some idea of her style as a dancer, as well as of her personal -appearance, is afforded by another contemporary who described her as -“bondante and abondante.” - -Among her other successes were “La Vivandière” and “Le Diable au -Violon.” For the last-named the violin was played by St. Leon, the -violinist and ballet-master, whom she married. She separated from -him in 1850. In April, 1854, she won a striking success in a ballet, -“Gemma,” which she had composed in collaboration with Théophile -Gautier--a great admirer of her--and she retired later in the same -year. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -LUCILE GRAHN (“EOLINE”) - - -Lucile Grahn was born at Copenhagen, June 30th, 1821, and is said to -have been so delighted with a ballet to which she was taken when only -four years old, that she forthwith insisted on learning to dance, and -made her regular theatrical _début_ as Cupid when she was seven! - -For a time she left the stage in order to pursue her studies as a -dancer. After seven years of the usual and always taxing training she -reappeared, at the age of fourteen, first in “La Muette de Portici,” -following with success in a ballet of her own composition, “Le Cinq -Seul,” then creating the _rôle_ of the Princess Astride, in a ballet -entitled “Waldemar,” and followed with the title-_rôle_ in “Hertha,” -both Scandinavian in subject. - -Then she proceeded to Paris, and after studying a while under Barrez, -was recalled suddenly to Copenhagen to take part in a fête arranged -in honour of the Queen of Denmark, and so did not make her Parisian -_début_ until she appeared at the Opera in “Le Carnaval de Venise,” -in 1838, in which she achieved an immediate success, only excelled -in the following year when she captured all Parisians’ hearts in the -ballet which Taglioni had already made famous--“Sylphide.” - -Unhappily, in the spring of 1840, her career was interrupted by an -accident while rehearsing a _variation_ which she was to perform at -the benefit of Madame Falcon, the singer; and in consequence of -inflammation of the knee she was laid up for some time in spite of -the most careful attention. She never appeared at the Paris Opera -again; but in the next few years her recovery was sufficient to allow -of her achieving many successes in London, as well as taking part in -the famous Quartette. - -In 1844 she appeared in “Lady Henriette” at Drury Lane, and in the -following Spring was engaged for the entire season of the Italian -Opera at Her Majesty’s, where she won the most dazzling of her -successes in a ballet entitled “Eoline,” produced in April, 1845. - -A contemporary critic records the production in the following -amusingly naïve terms: “The ballet ‘Eoline,’ with its poetic story, -and its lovely feminine features (_sic_), was the great hit of the -first night, spite the difficulties of complicated scenery and -mechanical effects. The ballet worked wonders, and Lucile Grahn -exhibits nightly the most delightful grace and modesty of deportment, -in addition to certainty and aplomb of position, reminding one of -Canova’s masterpieces of sculpture.” - -Grahn made a great success as Catarina in “La Fille du Bandit,” -during May, 1848. According to one critic it “exhibited her talents -in a higher degree than anything she has previously appeared in. As -the bandit’s daughter she assumes a dignified bearing, like that of -one born to command, and supports it throughout whether in dancing or -action ... and the grace of her solos commands numerous encores.” - -Yet greater success followed in “Le Jugement de Pâris,” the honours -therein, however, being shared with Cerito and Taglioni. This -appearance was in connection with one of the most striking sensations -of the theatrical season of 1848 (certainly the most remarkable in -the history of ballet, save for the famous _Pas de Quatre_ of three -years before), namely, the _Pas des Déesses_, which was performed in -the presence of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. - -Even the Russians of our day never evoked greater excitement or -enthusiasm than that which greeted the appearance of these three -great dancers of the ’forties in one ballet. A contemporary critic, -contrasting the production with that of the former _Pas de Quatre_ -remarked that “for poetry of idea and execution the _Pas des Déesses_ -has decidedly the advantage,” and goes on to say: “Besides this, -though the attention is principally directed to the three great -_danseuses_, yet the grouping is rendered far more effective by the -addition of other actors. - -“The _Pas des Déesses_ has another recommendation; it is longer, and -the intervals while the three ‘stars’ are resting themselves, are -filled up by the charming butterfly steps of Louise Taglioni, and the -most incredible feats on the part of St. Leon and Perrot. In fact, -all here surpass themselves--of Taglioni, Grahn, Cerito, each in turn -seems to obtain the advantage--though, of course, the palm is finally -adjudged by each spectator accordingly as his taste is originally -inclined. For ourselves, as critics, obliged to put away all previous -predilections, we are compelled to confess that each in her peculiar -style, in this _pas_, reaches the _ne plus ultra_ of her art, and -each is different. - -“Though the styles of Taglioni and Lucille Grahn at first sight -would seem to be identical, yet they have both their own peculiar -characteristics. The buoyant energy of Grahn contrasts with that -peculiar quietness that marks Taglioni’s most daring feats, while -Cerito, who by her very smallness of stature, seems fitted by nature -for another style of dancing, bounds to and fro, as though in the -plenitude of enjoyment. We have never seen either of these great -_danseuses_ achieve such wonders as in this _pas_. The improvement -of Lucile Grahn is, above all, marvellous; she introduces a step -entirely new and exquisitely graceful; and, though it must be of most -difficult achievement, she executes it with an ease and lightness -which gives her the appearance of flying. It is a species of _valse -renversée_ on a grand scale. One of the most effective moments with -Cerito is that in which she comes on with St. Leon, executing a -_jetés battus_ in the air, and, at the same moment, turning her head -suddenly to catch a sight of the much-desired apple. This never fails -to elicit thunders of applause, and an encore. - -“As for Taglioni, after taking the most daring leaps in her own easy -and exquisitely graceful manner, she flits across the stage with a -succession of steps, which, though perfectly simple, are executed -with such inconceivable lightness and such enchanting grace, as -invariably to call forth one of the most enthusiastic encores we -ever remember to have witnessed; in fact, from beginning to end -of the _divertissement_, all the spectators are kept in a state -of excitement, which finds vent in clappings, in shoutings, and -_bravas_, occasionally quite deafening.” - -The reference to the styles of Taglioni and Lucile Grahn as being -almost “identical” is made additionally interesting by the discerning -manner in which the critic contrasts the “buoyant energy of Grahn” -with that “peculiar quietness” that marked Taglioni’s most daring -efforts. - -Both had studied in the traditional school and to that extent were -bound to be somewhat similar. Their differences were due to physique -and temperament, Grahn, the fair Dane, was somewhat heavier in build, -had always been stronger and was also younger than Taglioni, who, -weakly in childhood, had always been of more _raffinée_ build and -temperament, and was now perhaps a shade less energetic than in the -days when she had delighted London with her earliest appearances some -fifteen years before. Still, that “peculiar quietness” had always -distinguished her and was that very quality which had made her so -ideal an exponent of “Sylphide.” - -Lucile Grahn, who was tall, slim, with blue eyes and blonde hair, was -said, as regards her dancing, to possess “less strength than Elssler, -less flexibility than Taglioni, but more of both than anyone else.” - -She appeared in London each season until 1848, when the arrival of -Jenny Lind created such a craze for Opera--and for Jenny Lind--that -Ballet temporarily lost its attraction for London audiences. She -comes close to our own times, for she died at Munich in the spring of -1907. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -THE DECLINE AND REVIVAL - - -Following what may be called “the Taglioni era” came a period of -comparative dullness. There _were_ successors who charmed their -audiences in London, in Paris, in Rome, Vienna and America. There was -the brilliant Caroline Rosati; the stately Amalia Ferraris; dashing -Rita Sangalli--who married a Baron; dainty Rosita Mauri; Petipa, -Fabbri, and others whose name and fame were brilliant but transient. -But these, you will say, were all foreigners. Had we no English -ballet dancers? Well, it may safely be said that Ballet in England -was never more thoroughly English, or more thoroughly banal, than for -some twenty years before and after the Taglioni period. - -From 1850 onwards it was the period of the Great Utilities, of which -Ballet was not one! Save for a few good examples later at the old -Canterbury Music Hall, with Miss Phyllis Broughton as _première -danseuse_, at Weston’s Music Hall, Holborn, and at the Alhambra under -Strange’s management, and some good productions at the Crystal Palace -arranged by M. Leon Espinosa, it was practically a close time for -artistic dance and ballet for something like a quarter of a century. - -The state of public disfavour into which the art had fallen is -well seen from the interesting extract from the _Era Almanack_ of -1872, in which one reads: “Judging from Mr. Mapleson’s extensive -productions the ballet was another sheet anchor on which he relied. -Madame Katti Lanner, a Viennese _danseuse_ of great repute, was, with -other foreign artists, engaged for the _express purpose of reviving -an interest in the old-fashioned, elaborate ballet of action_. The -experiment was boldly made, but failed; and it is clear that all -modern audiences care for is an incidental _divertissement_ which -may mean something or nothing. As for a story worked out by clever -pantomime, people refuse to stay and see it, and the deserted -appearance of the theatre while ‘Giselle’ and other ballets were -in progress was a significant hint that incidental dances only are -appreciated by opera-goers of the present day. The ballets invented -by Madame Katti Lanner were ‘La Rose de Séville,’ ‘Hvika’ and one or -two nameless _divertissements_. She danced in them all, and in the -first act of ‘Giselle.’” - -Thus, London audiences from, roughly, 1850 to 1870, had not that -burning interest in the art of ballet which they had displayed for -the twenty years or so preceding 1850; indeed, they had little or -no interest in it. In Paris conditions were much the same. There -were dancers of some ability and transient popularity, as we have -noted, but no ballet and no dancer appeared of outstanding merit -such as those of the great periods of the eighteenth century, the -mid-nineteenth, or such as we have seen to-day. Even dancing, apart -from ballet, was of comparatively little interest. - -In London, with the ’eighties came the dear old Gaiety and another -_pas de quatre_, that in “Faust Up-to-Date,” a very different one -from that of the ’forties, not the toe-dancing of classic ballet, but -step-dancing of the characteristic and admirable English school; and -it was a very bright and inspiring dance done with tremendous _verve_ -by the Misses Florence Levey, Lillian Price, Maud Wilmot, and Eva -Greville. - -Supreme, however, as an exponent of the English school of dancing -was, unquestionably, Kate Vaughan, who, with Sylvia Grey, Alice -Lethbridge, Letty Lind, and others of that period, and for well into -the ’nineties, were the delight of London. - -Kate Vaughan herself was one of the most distinguished dancers -England has ever had--distinguished for incomparable grace, finish, -and characteristically English refinement of manner. There were -no ragged edges to her work. Her art was--as all good art must -be--deliberate; her every pose and movement beautiful, and always -instinct with the quintessence of a special and personal charm that -never failed her to the end. I saw her dance, shortly before her -death, at a concert given on behalf of one of the various charities -which arose out of the Boer War; and all the art and all the charm -which had made Kate Vaughan a stage influence in her time were as -amply evident as when she had first delighted us some twenty years -before. - -With the ’eighties came the rise of the Ballet as a regular London -institution, on the founding of those two veteran Vaudeville houses, -the Empire and the Alhambra, where for about a quarter of a century, -practically without interruption, Ballet was the chief item on their -always varied and attractive programmes. Of course, there was in -1884 the famous production of Manzotti’s great ballet “Excelsior” at -Her Majesty’s Theatre; but it was not really until the opening of -the two aforenamed houses that we had a real revival of Ballet in -London apart from the Opera, and without that State-aid which the art -receives on the Continent. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -THE ALHAMBRA: 1854-1903 - - -Both the Alhambra and the Empire were alike in having had a somewhat -varied career before they became the rival “homes of English ballet.” - -There was something like a craze for music-halls in the early -’sixties of last century, and it was probably partly due to this that -the Alhambra, which had been opened in 1854 as a Panopticon of the -Arts and Sciences (with a Royal Charter granted by Queen Victoria in -1850) failing of its more ambitious purpose, ceased (unsuccessfully) -to instruct, and sought (with better success) only to amuse. - -First it was given over to more or less unorthodox religious services -on the Sundays and to boxing contests and wrestling on the week days! -Then for a time it came under the direction of a then well-known -theatrical manager and speculator, the late Mr. E. T. Smith, who -called it the Alhambra, and in 1870 secured a regular music-hall -licence. The place was still not very successful. It became a circus -for a short time. - -Then it was taken over by a Mr. William Wilde, of Nottingham, who -introduced Leotard, the famous gymnast, about whose wonderful grace -and daring London went mad, so much so that on his return visit in -1866, under the late John Hollingshead’s management, he received a -salary of £180 a week. - -Then Mr. Frederick Strange, who had been connected with the Crystal -Palace, became manager and introduced ballet, his most notable -production being one called “L’Enfant Prodigue,” which was adapted -from Auber’s opera. Mr. Jules Riviere was the conductor of the -orchestra; and among those who became responsible for the arranging -of the ballets were the brothers Imré and Bolossy Kiralfy, assisted -by their sister Aniola, one of their most successful productions -being one entitled “Hungary.” - -At this period the old quarrel between the young “music-halls” -and the “legitimate” theatres was growing serious. A ballet might -be produced so long as it was called and was, in effect, a mere -_divertissement_. Anything else, a musical sketch, or opera--in which -words were said or sung--was held an infringement of the rights of a -regular theatre, and when John Hollingshead, as stage director during -1865-1867, produced in 1866 a pantomime called “Where’s the Police?” -the management were fined by a magistrate some two hundred and forty -pounds. Apart from ballet and such a production as this pantomime, -there was, of course, plenty of the “variety” element, contributed by -such performers as Leotard, the Farinis, and the Foucarts, gymnasts; -and various vocalists known to their period. - -With the dawn of the ’seventies came a new taste for ballet and “Les -Nations” was staged at the Alhambra with a Mlle. Colonna and other -dancers, including Esther Austin (a sister of Emily Soldene) in the -cast; and a “Parisian Quadrille” became a feature of the production. - -Then came a season of “Promenade” Concerts, and during the -Franco-Prussian war the conductor, Mr. Jules Riviere, gave the “War -Songs of Europe,” those of the French and Prussian nations evoking -such passion that free fights occurred, and the theatre lost its -music-hall licence; and the Directors of the Alhambra Company -promptly secured a regular theatre licence from the Lord Chamberlain! - -So on April 24th, 1871, the place was opened as the Alhambra -Theatre, with an evening’s entertainment including a farce, “Oh, -My Head!”; a comic opera, “The Crimson Scarf”; and two ballets, -“The Beauties of the Harem” and “Puella.” Then followed another -ballet “The Sylph of the Glen”; and then “A Romantic Tale,” by J. B. -Johnston, and an extravaganza, “All About the Battle of Dorking.” - -In September of the same year the Vokes, a famous family of dancers, -made their appearance, the programme including “The Two Gregorys,” -a comic ballet, and “The Mountain Sylph,” and “The Beauties of the -Harem,” in which a Mlle. Sismondi appeared with much success. The -Christmas pantomime which followed, with the title “Harlequin Prince -Happy-go-Lucky, or Princess Beauty” (a title quite in the good old -pantomime style), included a ballet, with such performers as Mlles. -Pitteri, Sismondi, and another well-known dancing family, the Elliots. - -There was a change of management in March, 1872, when John Baum, -from Cremorne Gardens, took up the reins and produced Offenbach’s -“Le Roi Carotte,” with M. Jacobi as musical director, and ballets -as a feature of the production. Then followed “The Black Crook,” -and Offenbach’s beautiful opera, “La Belle Hélène,” and then, in -December, 1873, “Don Juan,” in each of the last two Miss Kate Santley -playing “lead.” - -In the spring of next year came “La Jolie Parfumeuse,” followed in -the autumn with a ballet, “The Demon’s Bride,” and “Whittington,” an -_opéra bouffe_, in which the honours were shared by Miss Kate Santley -and Miss Julia Mathews. - -In the autumn of 1875, with Mr. Joseph A. Cave as Manager and -producer, came “Spectresheim,” and a comic ballet, “Cupid in -Arcadia,” in which the Lauri family and “The Majiltons” appeared. -A succession of farces, pantomimes, extravaganzas, light opera and -ballets followed, the more noteworthy productions being Strauss’s -“Die Fledermaus,” produced at the Alhambra on January 9th, 1877. - -As an example of the lavish manner in which the audiences of those -days were catered for, the programme for that evening is interesting. -There was none of the “9 to 11” business about the theatres then. The -“gallery boy” paid his sixpence, or the “pittite” his two shillings -expecting a run for his money--and got it! The majority of theatres -began their performance at 7.15 p.m.; and those that did not, started -even earlier, sometimes as early as six o’clock, and often with four -or five productions. On January 9th, 1877, the programme at the -Alhambra was as follows: - - 7.15. “A Warning to Parents.” A Farce. - 8.0. “Die Fledermaus.” Opera Comique by Johann Strauss. - 10.0. The Celebrated Girards. Eccentric Dancers. - 10.15. “The Fairies’ Home.” A New Grand Ballet. - -“Die Fledermaus” had an excellent cast, including Miss Emma -Chambers--a very popular soubrette of the time--and Mr. Harry -Paulton; while in the ballet were a Mlle. Pertoldi, a very handsome -_danseuse_ of statuesque proportions, a Mlle. T. de Gillert, a clever -mime, and among lesser lights Mlles. Sismondi, Melville, Rosa and -Richards, who were for several years to be more or less prominently -associated with the Alhambra ballet. - -In September of the same year was staged Offenbach’s _opéra bouffe_, -“Orphée aux Enfers,” with handsome, golden-tressed Cornélie d’Anka -as the chief attraction; the same programme including the ballet of -“Yolande,” “invented and designed” by Alfred Thompson, with music -by Mons. G. Jacobi, and dances by Mons. A. Bertrand, from the Paris -Opera, who was later to become more closely associated with Alhambra -productions. The principal _danseuses_ were Mlles. Passani, Pertoldi, -de Gillert and M. A. Josset. - -It has been stated that it was “towards the end of 1877” that the -late Mr. Charles Morton--one of the ablest theatrical managers London -has known--took charge of the Alhambra, and that he started his -connection therewith by reviving one of his former great successes, -namely, “La Fille de Madame Angot.” He may have become connected with -the theatre towards the end of 1877, but apparently the first time -his name appeared on the programme as Manager was early in January, -1878; and not with “Madame Angot” as his first production, but with -“Wildfire,” a “Grand, Spectacular, Fairy, Musical and Pantomimic -Extravaganza” (as it was described) by the then very popular -_collaborateurs_, H. B. Farnie and R. Reece--an extra extravagant -extravaganza in three acts and fourteen tableaux! - -This remarkable production had a strong cast, including Harry -Paulton, J. H. Ryley, two charming singers, Miss Lennox Grey -and Miss Pattie Laverne; and among the _danseuses_ in the -_divertissement_--Mlles. Pertoldi, de Gillert and Sismondi. - -Next month came a triple bill, starting at 7.20 with a farce, -“Crowded Houses”; then, at 8, “La Fille de Madame Angot,” with -Mlles. Cornélie d’Anka, Selina Dolaro and Lennox Grey as the bright -particular stars; followed, at 10.30, with “Les Gardes Françaises,” a -grand military ballet; with Mlles. E. Pertoldi and T. de Gillert as -the leading artists, the dances being arranged by Mons. A. Bertrand, -the whole production proving very successful. - -Much of its success--as in the case of the two or three preceding -spectacles--was attributable largely to the beauty of the staging and -the splendour of the costumes, apropos to which it should be noted -here that it was first in 1877 that M. and Mme. Charles Alias first -began to make costumes for the Alhambra, and were associated with it -in several subsequent productions until the end of 1883. - -It was not, however, until 1884, when the Magistrate’s licence for -music and dancing was again recovered, that M. Alias (to whom I am -indebted for several details of the theatre’s history) regularly took -up the position of Costumier to the Alhambra, in which capacity he -had entire control of the costume department--a very important factor -in spectacular production--and supplied every dress worn on the stage -for a period of about thirty years. Considering that there were some -nine or ten complete changes of management during that time it speaks -volumes for his ability and the excellence of the work done by M. -Alias that his services should have been retained through so lengthy -a period. - -To return, however, to the days when the Alhambra was not a -“music-hall” but a theatre, with the Lord Chamberlain’s licence, and -was giving _opéra comique_ and _opéra bouffe_ as well as ballet. -Charles Morton’s next production, in April, 1878, was another -Offenbach revival, namely, “The Grand Duchess,” with Mlle. Cornélie -d’Anka, Miss Rose Lee and J. D. Stoyle (“Jimmy” Stoyle), Pertoldi and -T. de Gillert in the cast, M. Bertrand (by now engaged as “resident” -ballet-master) introducing two ballets, one Hungarian and the other -Bohemian. - -In the following June came the production of Von Suppé’s comic opera, -“Fatinitza,” adapted by Henry S. Leigh, with the late Aynsley Cook, -Miss Rose Lee, John J. Dallas and other popular stars in the cast. It -was preceded by a farce, “Which is Which,” and followed by a “grand -Indian” _ballet d’action_ by the late J. Albery, entitled “The Golden -Wreath,” arranged by Bertrand, with music by Jacobi, and with Mlles. -G. David, E. Pertoldi and T. de Gillert as dancers. It was, from -all accounts, a very gorgeous production. Indeed, so successful was -it that when Offenbach’s “Geneviève de Brabant” was staged in the -autumn, this ballet was “still running.” - -The sensation of the following spring was the production of “La Poule -aux Œufs d’Or,” a “new grand Spectacular and Musical _féerie_,” by -MM. Denhery and Clairville, adapted to the English stage by Frank -Hall, with a very strong cast including such well-known favourites -as Constance Loseby, Emily Soldene, Clara Vesey, Violet Granville, -the celebrated French duettists Bruet and Rivière, Aynsley Cook, E. -Righton (“Teddy” Righton), with Pertoldi and de Gillert as leading -_danseuses_. - -In the autumn came a revival of Offenbach’s “The Princess of -Trebizonde,” with Miss Alice May, Miss Constance Loseby, Miss Emma -Chambers, Mr. Charles Collette, Mr. Furneaux Cook, in the cast, the -opera being followed by “Le Carnaval de Venise,” a ballet in which -that fine, statuesque dancer and expressive mime, Mme. Malvina -Cavallazi--later to become so great a favourite with the Empire’s -audiences--was supported by Mlle. de Gillert and other Alhambra -favourites, and for which, as in the case of many ballets at this -period--the gorgeous costumes were from designs by Faustin. - -This was succeeded by Lecocq’s comic opera “La Petite Mademoiselle,” -of which the English libretto was by Reece and Henry S. Leigh, a -very brilliant cast including the late Fred Leslie, Harry Paulton, -Constance Loseby, Emma Chambers and Alice May, the opera being -preceded by a farce and followed by a ballet, “Carmen,” dances by -Bertrand and music by Jacobi. - -On December 22nd, 1879, came the production of “Rothomago,” a “Grand, -New, Christmas Fairy Spectacle,” arranged by H. B. Farnie from the -French, in four acts and _seventeen tableaux_! It was the day of big -adjectives and big productions. - -This apparently started the modern fashion of requiring a positive -syndicate of musical collaborators, for the late Edward Solomon was -responsible for the music of the First Act, P. Bucalossi for the -Second, Gaston Serpette (composer of “Les Cloches de Corneville”) for -the Third, no less than three ballets being contributed by Jacobi. -The cast included Constance Loseby, Mlle. Julie, Emma Chambers, Harry -Paulton, Pertoldi, de Gillert, Rosselli; the costumes were designed -by Mr. C. Wilhelm, and executed, as were so many of the costumes for -these earlier productions, by Madame Alias, Miss Fisher and Mrs. May. - -The spring of 1880 was marked by the successful production of -Offenbach’s “La Fille du Tambour-Major,” with an excellent cast -including Constance Loseby, Edith Blande, Fanny Edwards, the -fascinating Fanny Leslie--who later became so popular a “variety -artiste”--Fred Leslie, and Fred Marvin. It was followed by a gorgeous -Egyptian ballet “Memnon,” in which Mlle. Pertoldi, Miss Matthews--a -very handsome English dancer--and Mlles. Rosa and Marie Muller -(pupils of Mme. Katti Lanner) were the chief attractions, not to -mention Ænea, known as the “Flying Wonder.” - -Mr. Charles Morton left the Alhambra in 1881, and a striking success -was achieved by the new manager, Mr. William Holland, with “Babil and -Bijou,” the cast including Miss Rosa Berend, Miss Constance Loseby, -Harry Paulton, and Harry Monkhouse; while in the two grand ballets -arranged by Bertrand and for which the dresses were designed by -Mr. Wilhelm, were to be seen Mlle. Pertoldi, and Mme. Palladino, a -_petite_ and fascinating dancer who later was to become one of the -leading favourites at the Empire. - -In December, 1882, the theatre was burnt down, and on rebuilding -various successful productions were staged. The house, however, did -not really enter upon its most triumphant phase until October, 1884, -when it became the Alhambra Theatre of Varieties, with ballet now as -its main attraction. - -The first of the productions was “A Village Festival,” a new grand -ballet of Olden Times, with Mlle. Palladino as the _première -danseuse_. It was followed in the December with another, a very -successful ballet, “The Swans,” with Mlle. Palladino and a Miss -Mathews, a very popular dancer in her day. On the Christmas Eve -yet another was staged, “Melusine,” a new fantastic ballet, in -which a Mlle. Sampietro was supported by Miss Mathews. “Nina the -Enchantress”; “Le Bivouac”--a military spectacle; “Cupid;” “The -Seasons”; “Nadia”; “Algeria”; “Dresdina”; “Enchantment”; “Antiope”; -“Ideala,” a “pastoral divertissement”; “Irene”--a fantastic -ballet; “Our Army and Navy”--patriotic spectacle; “Astrea,” were -progressively successful productions. - -“Asmodeus”; “Zanetta” followed, bringing us to June, 1890, and these -too, were notable for some gorgeous stage effects which drew “all -London,” and for the dancing of principals such as the two already -mentioned, and of Mme. Cormani, Signorina Legnani, Signorina Bessone, -Mme. Roffey and Signor de Vicenti, the last named being for many -years associated with the Alhambra productions. - -“Salandra,” given for the first time on June 23rd, 1890, was a -remarkably fine production, and with the late Charles Morton as -Acting Manager, Vernon Dowsett as Stage Manager, Mr. T. E. Ryan for -Scenic Artist, Signor Casati as _maître de ballet_, M. and Mme. -Alias responsible for the costumes; and a superb orchestra of fifty -instrumentalists under Mons. G. Jacobi, the Alhambra’s new era of -growing prosperity was now assured. - -The ballet was in five tableaux, and involved some striking changes -of scene. The heroine, Salandra (Signorina Legnani) was a Gipsy -Queen, and the opening scene introduced various Tzigane dances. -There was an exciting wrestling match, and a lively hunting dance in -the third tableau; a charming fair scene in the last, and the whole -production exhibited to the full those characteristics of brightness, -efficiency of performance, and splendour of stage effect, which were -long to mark the Alhambra as a house of distinction and one high in -popular favour. - -For Christmas of that year “The Sleeping Beauty” proved attractive, -and was followed in 1891, by “On the Roofs,” a “pantomime -ballet” by the famous Lauri troupe. “Oriella,” a new fantastic -ballet--described as “the most beautiful of all” then produced at -the Alhambra--followed; then a musical pantomime by Charles Lauri, -“The Sculptor and the Poodle”; then a comic ballet, “The Sioux,” by -Charles Lauri and his troupe, with music by Mr. Walter Slaughter; and -in September, 1892, came “Up the River,” a very popular production -invented by the late John Hollingshead (who was now Manager) in which -the rural and riverside scenery by Mr. T. E. Ryan was very much -admired; the scenic effects--including a remarkable storm--being -admirably managed; the ballet capitally performed; and M. Jacobi’s -flowing and richly orchestrated music proving better than ever. - -“Temptation,” a “new, grand fantastic ballet, in three tableaux,” -invented and arranged by Signor Carlo Coppi, with scenery by Ryan, -and music by M. Jacobi, was a big and very successful production, in -which a Signorina Elia, as _première_, made a hit. - -The production of “Aladdin” by John Hollingshead on December -19th, 1892, called forth tributes of praise for the enterprising -and ingenious Manager. The familiar story was well kept to, the -situations were telling, and the four changes of scene were effected -without once lowering the curtain, while the last, “The Veil of -Diamonds,” was amazing. A tableau curtain of glass was introduced, -composed of some 75,000 glass facets held together by _twenty-four -miles_ of wire, and illuminated by various electric and other lights -of different colours, the whole achieving one of the most wonderful -effects ever seen on the stage, one not easily forgotten. - -The cast was a strong one, Signorina Legnani--a finished dancer of -the typical Italian school--as the Princess; Mlle. Marie, a charming -little dancer and clever mime, as Aladdin; Signorina Pollini, as the -Spirit of the Lamp; that fine actor and dancer, Mr. Fred Storey, as -the Magician; with good support from Mme. Roffey, Miss Hooten, the -Almonti Brothers, and, of course, a wondrous array of beauty among -the Alhambra _corps de ballet_. Mr. Bruce Smith had provided artistic -scenery; Mr. Howard Russell was the designer of the costumes--as for -several of the Alhambra ballets--which were admirably turned out as -usual by M. and Mme. Alias; and M. Jacobi had once again surpassed -himself in the music, that for the beautiful “chrysanthemum” scene -and a waltz in A, in the finale, proving especially popular. - -Another great success was achieved in the production of “Chicago,” in -March, 1893, a lively, up-to-date production, which later ran into a -second edition. “Fidelia,” adapted from “Le Violon du Diable,” was a -romantic ballet that also went into a second edition. The Alhambra -by now had as Business Manager, Mr. Albert A. Gilmer, with Mr. A. G. -Ford as Stage Manager, though Signor Casati, as _maître de ballet_, -M. G. Jacobi, as conductor and composer of the music, were still -continuing in their accustomed spheres. - -Yet another success achieved under the same able direction was -“Don Quixote,” with Mr. Fred Storey as a brilliant exponent of the -title-_rôle_, and Signorina Porro as the Dulcinea, La Salmoiraghi as -the niece, and Mr. Fred Yarnold, as the Sancho Panza, other parts -being well filled by Miss Julia Seale (a handsome and clever dancer -and mime long associated with the Alhambra), Mme. Roffey, Miss Hooten -and the Almontis. - -The ballet was a great success with the public, and a happy comment -by a leading critic was as follows: “Within the charming framework -of the four admirably painted scenes by Ryan there is a continuous -procession of ballet incident, the costumes quaint, picturesque, -poetic, splendid, and nevertheless suggestive always of old Spain. -Mr. Howard Russell, the designer, deserves great praise for the -fancy and versatility which he has been able to show without proving -unfaithful to his theme. While his beautiful dresses give rare -variety and character to the dances of maidservants, pages, millers, -grape-gatherers, brigands, wood-nymphs, in the earlier portions of -the piece, they are seen to really magnificent effect in the grand -gathering of all the Terpsichorean forces of the theatre in the final -tableau. The stage organisation of the Alhambra is always good. -Nowhere do we see better mass dancing; and nowhere either do the -dancers receive more assistance from the musician. M. Jacobi’s ballet -music is as sympathetic as its tunefulness is inexhaustible. This is -M. Jacobi’s eighty-ninth ballet here.” That last remark may come as a -revelation to those who do not realise how much of ballet we have had -at two London theatres in the past thirty years. “Don Quixote” was M. -Jacobi’s “eighty-ninth ballet” at the Alhambra, and--there were other -Jacobian productions to follow! - -Mr. Alfred Moul in 1894 became the General Manager of the Alhambra -and the evidences of his long associations with the dramatic and -lyric stage were quickly apparent in the series of brilliant -successes with Ballet which now were placed to the credit of the -historic house of which he had assumed control. - -A marked success in the summer of the same year was “Sita,” the story -of which dealt with an Indian girl’s hopeless love for the accepted -lover of her master’s daughter. - -A grand spectacular ballet, on the familiar theme of “Ali Baba and -the Forty Thieves,” was the sensation of the close of 1894, more -particularly owing to the introduction of an “aerial ballet” by -the well-known Grigolati troupe. The treatment of the story was on -conventional lines, naturally, but the ballet was gorgeously staged, -and introduced an especially attractive dancer, Signorina Cecilia -Cerri, while Mlle. Louise Agoust, as Morgiana, added to the laurels -she had already won in other productions as a first-rate mime of -dramatic character. “Bluebeard” was another popular success on -familiar lines; and “Rip Van Winkle”--with Mr. Fred Storey, masterly -as Rip--yet another, towards the end of 1896. - -Mr. Alfred Moul then staged “Victoria and Merrie England,” a “grand -national ballet in eight tableaux,” the scenario being arranged -and the ballet “invented” by Signor Carlo Coppi, the music being -by no less a personage than Sir Arthur Sullivan, M. Jacobi still -conducting, while the scenery was by Mr. T. E. Ryan, the costumes -by M. and Mme. Alias from designs by Mr. Howard Russell, the cast -including Signorina Legnani, Miss Ethel Hawthorne, Miss Julia Seale -and Miss Josephine Casaboni. The ballet was a huge success. It was -certainly one of the finest spectacular and “patriotic” productions -ever seen on the London stage, and it is one of the proudest records -of the Alhambra that the performances were honoured with nearly a -score of Royal visits. - -One of the great successes of the spring of 1898 was a grand ballet -on the old theme of “Beauty and the Beast,” invented and produced by -Signor Carlo Coppi, with music by M. Jacobi, the interest being kept -up throughout in a _crescendo_ of pageantry. The sensation of the -production was, perhaps, the second tableau, “The Garden of Roses,” -in which the popular Signorina Cerri, supported by the _corps de -ballet_, appeared in a grand valse representing every known kind of -rose, each dancer being almost hidden by gigantic presentments of -the flowers--red, tea, moss roses and every other type--a luxurious -mass of living blossoms, weaving itself into ever fresh and endless -harmonies of colour and enchantment. Yet another gorgeous effect was -attained by a Butterfly ballet, and the whole thing was one more -triumph for Mr. T. E. Ryan as scenic artist, Mr. Howard Russell and -M. Alias, responsible for the wonderful costumes; a triumph indeed -for all associated with the production. - -On the retirement of Mr. Moul, which took place in 1898, Mr. C. -Dundas Slater became General Manager, with Mr. James Howell as -Business Manager, Mr. Charles Wilson as Stage Manager, Mr. H. -Woodford as Secretary and Treasurer; and Mr. G. W. Byng as Musical -Director--the last two named gentlemen holding their appointments for -many years following. - -A very popular production of this year was “Jack Ashore,” modestly -described as “an unpretentious Sketchy _Divertissement_ in One -Tableau” which was invented and produced by Mr. Charles Wilson, with -dances arranged by Signor Pratesi, and music by Mr. George Byng. It -had a delightful early nineteenth-century setting for its dramatic -little story and was capitally done by a cast including Miss Julia -Seale, Miss Casaboni, the Misses Grace and Sybil Arundale, Mr. Albert -Le Fre, and the Brothers Almonti. - -An attractive production of the following year was “A Day Off,” -which, however, was somewhat outshone by the beauty of “The Red -Shoes,” a fine spectacular ballet based on Hans Andersen’s famous -story, with a good cast including Mlle. Emilienne D’Alençon, Miss -Julia Seale, and Miss J. Casaboni--a very vivacious and attractive -dancer. - -Two noteworthy ballets of 1900 were “Napoli,” in one scene, written -by Signor Giovanni Pratesi, produced by Mr. Charles Wilson, with -music by Mr. George W. Byng; and a patriotic military display, -“Soldiers of the Queen,” produced by Mr. Charles Wilson, under the -direction of Mr. C. Dundas Slater, the scene representing Queen’s -Parade, Aldershot, from sunrise to sunset, concluding with an -Inspection and Grand March by the combined bands of Infantry, Drums -and Fifes, _corps de ballet_, chorus and auxiliaries, numbering -over two hundred and fifty, and representing some thirty leading -regiments. Needless to say, produced as it was when patriotic feeling -was at its height on account of the Boer War, it was as successful as -it was magnificent. - -A “romantic nautical ballet,” in three scenes, entitled “The Handy -Man,” followed in January, 1901. It was written and produced by -Mr. Charles Wilson, with music by Mr. George W. Byng, and dances -arranged by Signor Rossi. In the same programme was a vocal _ballet -divertissement_, “The Gay City,” by the same author and musician, -the dances arranged by Mme. Cormani. Later this was retained, and -was followed by a “fanciful” grand ballet, entitled “Inspiration,” -invented and written by Mr. Malcolm Watson, the music being by Mr. -George W. Byng, and the dances by Signor Carlo Coppi, the cast -including Miss Audrey Stafford, as the Goddess of Inspiration, Miss -Judith Espinosa, as the Genius of Inspiration, Miss Edith Slack, as -a Greek Dancer, Mr. Fred Farren, as Caliban, and other well-known -people. The year closed with a charming _divertissement_, “Gretna -Green,” and a revised edition of “Soldiers of the King.” - -[Illustration: Mlle. Palladino in “Nina” at the Alhambra] - -[Illustration: - - _Dover St. Studios_ - -Mlle. Britta] - -“In Japan,” a delightful ballet, adapted by Mr. S. L. Bensusan, from -his story, _Dede_, with music specially composed by M. Louis Ganne, -proved particularly attractive. There was a good story, the acting -and dancing were unusually good, and the mounting and stage effects, -under the direction of Mr. C. Dundas Slater and Mr. Charles Wilson, -were fresh and beautiful, especially the “Ballet of Blossoms.” - -The theatre at this period was now again to come under the influence -of Mr. Alfred Moul. At an Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders -at the commencement of the year 1902, when the fortunes of the -theatre seemed once more uncertain, Mr. Moul was invited again by -both Shareholders and Directors to assume control. He responded, and -within a few weeks was installed as Chairman of the Company, once -more throwing his energies into a congenial task. One of his first -achievements was to secure the services of an old _protégé_ and a now -eminent musician, Mr. Landon Ronald. - -From the pen of that accomplished artist came the music for a -spectacular Patriotic Ballet entitled “Britannia’s Realm,” in a -prologue and four scenes, invented and produced by Mr. Charles -Wilson, with dances by Signor Carlo Coppi. It was one of the best -planned and most extraordinarily sumptuous productions ever seen -at the Alhambra, long famous for the splendour of its effects, and -while there were several charming novelties, such as the _Pas des -Patineurs_, in the Canadian Skating Carnival scene (the music of -which must still haunt those who heard it), for sheer magnificence -probably nothing finer has ever been produced on the Alhambra stage -than the Indian jewel scene, and the grand _finale_ representing -“Homage to Britannia,” and the formation of the Union Jack. It was a -remarkable achievement, and well deserved the enthusiasm with which, -night after night for some months, it was received. - -An excellent ballet of 1903 was “The Devil’s Forge,” invented by -Mr. Charles Wilson and Mme. Cormani, with music by Mr. George Byng. -This also ran for some months, and was a charming and dramatic work, -beautifully staged, and uncommonly well acted, particularly good -work being done by Miss Edith Slack (a clever mime) as the hero, -Karl, and Miss Marjorie Skelley, a sound and graceful dancer, as the -Fairy of the Mountain. - -Before this was withdrawn a delightful adaptation of “Carmen” had -been staged, with much of Bizet’s music, ingeniously handled by Mr. -George Byng, who had composed some admirable extra numbers. It was -finely staged, notable for the strength of the cast and vitality of -the entire _corps de ballet_, but above all for the superb acting of -Guerrero as Carmen and M. Volbert as Don José. - -Apart from Guerrero’s fine presence, her magnificent dancing, the -breadth, realism and intensity of her acting throughout, all of which -one could never forget, there were two particularly memorable moments -of that production; one was the fortune-telling scene, the other--the -scene in which Carmen flirts with the Lieutenant of Gendarmes in -order to lure him away from the gipsy camp, and is dividing her -attention between her flirtation and the knowledge that Don José has -only just been frustrated from stabbing her while so engaged, by the -sudden intervention of her comrades, who are endeavouring to drag him -away silently so that the Lieutenant who is just in front shall not -hear and so discover the presence of the gipsy band. - -In the card scene, Guerrero gave in all its fullness the sense of a -tragic, overhanging doom. In the other, all the combined cunning and -fighting instinct of a savage animal at bay with circumstance, and -trying by sheer cunning and audacity, to master it, came out, and it -was not acting but reality, the real Carmen of Mérimée extricating -herself and her comrades from discovery and disaster by superb daring -in the use of her dazzling, unconscionable charm. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII - -THE ALHAMBRA 1904-1914 - - -There was plenty of novelty and ample charm in “All the Year Round,” -a ballet in seven scenes, written and produced by Mr. Charles -Wilson, with bright and appropriate music by the well-known _chef -d’orchestre_ of Drury Lane, Mr. James Glover, on January 21st, 1904, -by which time the late Mr. George Scott was Manager. - -It was one that should always be worth revival, with topical -modifications, and though a genuine ballet with a central idea -connecting its varied scenes, it seemed in form somewhat to herald -the _revue_ which has since become such a craze. It was what one -might call a ballet in free form. - -The chief theme was the whim of a young French Marquis, who, having -invited friends to a dinner-party and engaged a Hungarian band for -their entertainment, himself turns up late to find that his _chef_ -is about to resign because the dinner is spoilt, and the servants -are on the verge of striking, while the guests are dancing. Annoyed -at a clock which reminds him of his unpunctuality, he orders its -destruction. The band now “strikes” and as everything is topsy-turvy, -the young host--not too blasé to enjoy any new freak--suggests that -servants and guests shall change places. This done, they welcome in -the New Year, and on the departure of the last guest, the butler -brings his master a large Calendar which the young man is mockingly -about to destroy also, when the Spirit of Happiness descends from -it, and as he pursues her, she asks him to learn how he may obtain -Happiness throughout the dawning year--thus paving the way for a -sort of _revue_ of the Months. - -The scheme gave scope for a number of charming and novel effects and -topical reference to various old festivals, such as St. Valentine’s -Day, St. Patrick’s Day; various sports and pastimes; a river scene, a -seaside bathing scene, an August Bank Holiday Revel. But the greatest -charm of the production was in scenes where a more poetic fancy had -had free play, as in the May scene, with the approach of Spring, a -glory of white and pink may, lilac and laburnum, and heralding the -blossoms of early summer, finishing with a ballet of swallows and May -flowers. - -The Autumnal scene, with its ballet of wheat, cornflowers, poppies -and autumn leaves, was a charming incident and provided an excellent -contrast to the earlier scene in the warmth of its colouring. The -November scene was, rightly enough, placed in London, on the Thames -Embankment by Cleopatra’s Needle, amid a typical London Fog; while -that of December closed with a grand Christmas ballet of holly and -mistletoe and icicles, with snow-clad tree and hedgerow in the -background. - -It was indeed a capital production and was still in the programme -when a new and topical ballet, “The Entente Cordiale,” was staged on -August 29th following. This also was invented and produced by Mr. -Charles Wilson, with excellent music by Mr. Landon Ronald, and dances -arranged and composed by Signor Alfredo Curti, who was for the next -few years to be closely associated, in the capacity of _maître de -ballet_, with the Alhambra Theatre. - -The opening prologue took place in the “Grove of Concordia,” where -the five Great Powers of Europe assemble to pay homage to the Goddess -of Progress. But, later, the Demon of War enters upon the world-stage -and stirs up strife among the Nations, so that all the horrors of -War are felt throughout the world, until finally Peace prevails -and summons the Ambassadors to enter and the Nations to assemble in -the Temple of Peace, where the Representatives of all the Nations, -assisted by the Orders of the Legion of Honour of France and the -Garter of England, at last form a grand alliance of all the Powers -and ensure the peace of the world in one _Grande Entente Cordiale_, a -scene of splendour strangely annulled in the face of present history -but, let us hope, prophetic of the future. - -“Parisiana,” a grand ballet in six scenes, invented and produced by -Mr. Charles Wilson, with music by Mr. James W. Glover, and dances -arranged by Signor Alfredo Curti, and some gorgeous costumes by -Alias, from designs by Comelli, gave us in 1905 fascinating glimpses -of Paris at various periods--1790, 1830, 1906. Among noteworthy -members of the cast were Mlle. Jane May, heroine of the earlier -production of “L’Enfant Prodigue,” and one of the finest modern -mimes; and also Miss Edith Slack, Miss Cormani, Signor Santini, and, -for a time, Signorina Maria la Bella. - -Between October, 1906, and May 14th, 1907, the Alhambra underwent -partial reconstruction, with complete and elaborate redecoration, -under the supervision of Mr. W. M. Brutton, the Alhambra Company’s -architect; and big as the task was it was carried through with entire -success and with additional triumph in that it was done without -closing the theatre for a single night! - -Mr. Alfred Moul had now assumed the dual task of Chairman and -Managing Director, with the result that under the influence of a -gentleman of extensive theatrical experience, and wide musical -culture, the Alhambra entered upon a new and even yet more brilliant -phase of artistic success in 1907, when “The Queen of Spades,” a -striking ballet of which the action and dances were composed and -arranged by Signor Alfredo Curti, was staged and proved so successful -as to run into a second “edition” and continue in the programme for -some months. - -Signor Alfredo Curti hailed from the Scala, Milan, where he had -studied the difficult art of Ballet composition on the historic lines -laid down by the virtual founder of the Milan school, Carlo Blasis, -of whom, as of Noverre, he was a great admirer, and about whom I had -many an interesting conversation. Signor Curti, whose scholarship in -the history of the dance was remarkable, was an enthusiastic follower -of the traditional school, and as an accomplished dancer and mime, an -artist, trained geometrician, and devotee of literature and music, -he brought to bear on his work as composer of Ballet, a theatrical -experience and artistic sympathy, somewhat akin to that of Blasis -himself; and while the action of his ballet was always coherent and -dramatic his appreciation of stage effect and handling of massed -groups of dancers in motion, were uncommonly fine. - -In the production of “Queen of Spades,” a dramatic ballet, the -story of which dealt with the allure of gambling, he was supported -on the musical side by that distinguished Italian composer, Signor -Mario Costa, some additional numbers being contributed by Mr. George -W. Byng, the costumes, of course, being by Alias, from designs by -Comelli, and scenery by Mr. T. E. Ryan. - -With Signorina Maria Bordin, a finished dancer of the typical Italian -school, as _prima ballerina assoluta_, seconded by that admirable -mime, Miss Julia Seale, Signorina Morino, Signor Santini, and an -excellent _corps de ballet_, the production achieved instant success, -and enthusiastically appreciative audiences found special reason for -approval in the novelty of the stage effects, such as the “Dream -Visions” in the third scene, with its “Valse des Liqueurs,” the -“Grand March of Playing Cards and Roulettes,” the novel “Bridge” -minuet; the “Conflict between Evil and Good,” not to mention the -dramatic effect of the “Temptation” scene which followed, and the -gorgeous finale in the “Nymphs’ Grotto of La Source.” - -Ambitious and successful as was this production, it was followed, in -October, 1907, by one even more striking, namely, “Les Cloches de -Corneville,” adapted from Planquette’s world-famous _opéra comique_. -The _ballet d’action_ was invented and presented by Signor Alfredo -Curti to the original music, as ingeniously selected, arranged and -supplemented by Mr. George W. Byng. Some wonderful costumes were -supplied by Alias from designs by Comelli, and the entire spectacle -was produced under the personal direction of Mr. Alfred Moul. Signor -G. Rosi gave an uncommonly fine study of the miserly Gaspard, -Signor Santini making a “dashing” Marquis de Corneville, Miss Daisy -Taylor an attractive Germaine, Miss Julia Seale playing cleverly as -Grenicheux, Signorina Morino as Serpolette, while Signorina Maria -Bordin won fresh laurels as the Spirit of the Bells, a part naturally -calling less for dramatic ability than for the music of motion. - -The production was beautifully staged. No prettier scene has ever -been set on the Alhambra stage than that of the Hiring Fair and Apple -Harvest, with its dance of apple-gatherers and sabot dance; nor one -more gorgeous than the last, in the Baronial Hall of the Corneville -Château, with its striking Grand March of Knights. The ballet ran -continuously _for over seven months_, and was revived with no less -success two years later. - -Once more a “topical” ballet held the place of honour in the -programme on May 25th, 1908. “The Two Flags,” a Franco-British -_divertissement_, arranged and produced by Signor Curti, with some -capital music by Mr. George W. Byng, was presented under the personal -direction of Mr. Alfred Moul, the chief _rôle_ of “La Gaieté de -Paris” being taken by Mlle. Pomponette--the very personification of -French _enfantine_ gaiety--well supported by Miss Julia Seale, Signor -Rosi, Signorina Morino, and other Alhambra favourites. - -In the same programme was given, under the title of “Sal! Oh My!” an -amusing satire on what we may term the Salome School of Dancing, then -recently instituted by Miss Maud Allan. The Alhambra skit, described -as “a musical etcetera” (the delightful music of which, by the way, -was by Mr. George W. Byng), served to introduce to a London audience -for the first time La Belle Leonora, a very handsome _danseuse_ of, I -believe, Spanish origin, who was, for several seasons, to become the -“bright, particular star” of the Alhambra. - -These two productions held sway for some months, but gave place in -October, 1908, to “Paquita,” a charming romantic ballet arranged -and produced by Signor Alfredo Curti, with music by Mr. George W. -Byng, who once more proved his talent for composition of the kind -essential for ballet, music rich in expressive melody, dramatic in -orchestration, and always appropriate to the action and mood of the -situation. The production introduced to London audiences for the -first time, Mlle. Britta, a young Danish dancer, with an interesting -personality and a marked gift for acting. - -In the same programme was included “On the Square,” a -_divertissement_ arranged and produced by Miss Elise Clerc, the scene -of which was laid in Herald Square, New York, and formed a background -for dances by newsboys, flower-girls, equestriennes, cake-walks, -“apache” dances, a dance of “Fluffy Ruffles and Rough Riders,” a -clever eccentric _pas de deux_, by Miss Elise Clerc herself and the -late Mr. Frank Lawton (the whistler, who first came into prominence -in London in the original production of “The Belle of New York”), -the most attractive item in the whole production perhaps being a -marionette _pas de deux_ by Mlle. Britta and Miss Carlotta Mossetti, -a clever dancer and mime. - -[Illustration: - - _Hana_ - -Mme. Guerrero] - -[Illustration: - - _Dover St. Studios_ - -Mlle. Leonora] - -The _divertissement_ held its place in the programme for a -considerable time, but was in general character hardly up to the -artistic tone of the Alhambra’s past; and the production of “Psyche,” -a classic idyll in three scenes, of which the dramatic action and -dances were by Signor Alfredo Curti, and the melodious, and always -expressive music was by Mr. Alfred Moul, came as a welcome relief to -the banalities of ragtime, the more so in that it provided a fine -opportunity for another striking success by Mlle. Leonora, whose -statuesque grace was particularly well displayed by the classic -beauty of the setting provided for her. - -“Femina,” another fine production by Signor Curti, gave Mlle. Leonora -opportunities, of which she fully availed herself, more especially in -her own national dance, and Mlle. Britta achieved a marked success -both as dancer and actress. Since then the more recent influx of -Russian dancers to the Alhambra, in “The Dance Dream,” invented and -produced by Alexander A. Gorsky, and notable for superb mounting and -the fine dancing of Mme. Catrina Geltzer and M. Tichomiroff; then the -exquisite “1830,” and since then again, another superb production of -a new version of “Carmen,” produced by Mr. Dion Clayton Calthrop, -and with some especially fine dancing by La Malaguenita and other -Spanish artists, all offered us fresh and delightful examples of the -enterprise of the management responsible for them. - -We must, however, leave any further consideration of the many -notable examples of Ballet at the Alhambra, which during the past -two or three years has been mainly given up to the _Revue_; and -must now turn to the Empire where an extensive series of always -artistic productions have provided those who witnessed them with many -interesting and happy memories. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -THE EMPIRE 1884-1906 - - -Before it opened its doors as a regular theatre, with the late H. J. -Hitchins as Manager, on April 17th, 1884, the Empire had “played many -parts.” The site had been occupied by a royal residence which became -in time a picture, or exhibition gallery and a café chantant, before -being burnt down in 1865. Then the late John Hollingshead and some -friends proposed erecting a theatre on the site, but the scheme fell -through and the ruin remained ruinous for some years, until it became -for a time a panorama of Balaclava. Then a theatre was started, to -be called the Pandora, but did not get finished under that title. -Finally it opened as the Empire in 1884, with “Chilperic,” a musical -spectacle in three acts and seven tableaux, founded on the opera -adapted by H. Hersee and H. B. Farnie, with music by Hervé. The -production included three grand ballets invented and arranged by -Monsieur Bertrand. - -The sensation of the third act was a “midnight review and electric -ballet of fifty Amazons, as invented by Trouvé, of Paris (being the -first time where three electric lamps are carried and manipulated by -one person, with the most startling and gorgeous effect).” - -The dancers included Mlle. Sismondi, Mlle. Aguzzi and Fräulein -Hofschuller; and the costumes by Mons. and Mme. Alias were after -designs by Bianchini, Faustin and Wilhelm, the last name being famous -in association, from the opening in 1884, with the many brilliant -productions at the Empire. - -It does not seem to be commonly known that while still counted as -a “theatre,” the Empire was already foreshadowing its destiny as a -home of English Ballet. The production of “Polly” was followed by -a real ballet, a version of Coppélia--_not_ that of Delibes--but -one founded on Hoffman’s famous story, with music by Léo; Delibes’ -“Sylvia” also being produced at about the same period. Probably few -people of to-day are aware that the famous ballet “Giselle” was also -given in these early days at the Empire, in December, 1884. And -again, on December 21st, 1885, was produced “Hurly Burly,” a military -pantomime ballet. Yet again, on June 12th, 1886, came “The Palace of -Pearl,” in which there were a Moorish ballet, with a Mlle. Luna as -_première_, and a lace ballet, in which Mlle. Pertoldi was the bright -particular star. The Empire was afterwards occupied for a time by the -Gaiety Company in burlesque, while a French company was occupying the -Gaiety, and, later, by the musical extravaganza, “The Lady of the -Locket,” in which Miss Florence St. John played the lead, and Mr. -Hayden Coffin, I believe, made his first appearance as “Cosmo.” Mr. -Edward Solomon’s opera, “Billee Taylor,” was also mounted for a short -run, as well as--on March 3rd, 1886--a version of “Round the World in -Eighty Days,” in which Miss Kate Vaughan and Mons. Marius appeared. - -Its career as a regular theatre not being as successful as had -been hoped, a fresh licence was obtained, and on December 22nd, -1887, under the joint direction of Mr. George Edwardes and the -late Sir Augustus Harris--with Mr. H. J. Hitchins as Manager--it -started afresh as a theatre of varieties, with Ballet as its chief -attraction, and it at once assumed an important place as one of the -leading variety houses of the world. - -At the beginning of the Empire’s prosperous career a wise choice was -made in the selection of the late Madame Katti Lanner as _maîtresse -de ballet_. - -Daughter of the famous Viennese waltz composer, Joseph Lanner--who, -when he died, was followed to the grave by some ten thousand -people--and herself a keen lover of music, Mme. Katti Lanner had been -in her earlier years a famous _danseuse_, who had appeared as a child -at the Vienna Opera-House, and later made her world-tour, as great -dancers did then and do to-day. - -She told me, in the first of many pleasant interviews I had with her -in her retirement, how, as a young girl, she had danced with Cerito, -and with Fanny Elssler, and how the latter had prophesied for her a -successful career; and she spoke with deep enthusiasm of the personal -fascination, the brilliant art, and the noble bearing of the great -dancer who was known to London of the ’forties as the “divine” Fanny. - -In the course of time Mme. Lanner came to settle in London, and -had produced ballets at Her Majesty’s--at which she had also -appeared--and at Drury Lane, before her invaluable services were -secured by the far-seeing management of the Empire in 1887. - -She had already, some ten years before, established her National -School of Dancing; and with this to draw upon, it was only natural -that, from the first, her productions at the Empire should be -marked by a uniformly high standard of technique. At no theatre or -opera-house can a high standard be maintained unless it can draw upon -some such school, either on the premises or off, where young talent -is fostered and developed, where consistent practice is kept up under -critical eyes, and where a uniform degree of technical efficiency and -a high sense of style are cultivated. So it has been with Milan and -Paris, Vienna and Petrograd; and so it became when Mme. Lanner began -her association with that series of productions at the Empire of -which it may be truthfully said that each achieved both artistic and -financial success. - -The programme on the opening night, Thursday, December 22nd, -1887, included two ballets, “Sports of England” and “Dilara.” -The former--the costumes for which were designed by Mr. Percy -Anderson--was, as its title betokens, a representation of the various -British sports and pastimes, and was naturally very popular with the -_habitués_ of the Empire. The second--the costumes of which were -designed by Mr. C. Wilhelm--was a brilliant spectacle, of Eastern -character; and both ballets, arranged by Mme. Lanner, with music by -Hervé, had a run of some months. - -They were succeeded by “Rose d’Amour” in May, 1888, which those who -remember it speak of to-day as one of Mme. Katti Lanner’s greatest -triumphs. It was notable, too, for the appearance of such dancers -as Mlle. Adèle Rossi--who, I believe, had come from the Paris -Opera--Mlle. Santori, Mlle. de Sortis; Ænea, the flying dancer, and -the wondrous Mons. Cecchetti, who, gifted with amazing youth, was -appearing recently with the Russians at the Royal Opera, Covent -Garden. “Rose d’Amour,” like Darwin’s poem of a century earlier, -dealt with “the loves of the plants,” or at any rate of the flowers, -and the quarrels in flowerland. It was a long and rather elaborate -production, with a prodigal array of lovely costumes designed by -Mr. Wilhelm; and it rather opened the eyes of Londoners as to the -possibilities of the art of Ballet. “Diana,” a graceful idyll on -classic lines--the scenario of which was suggested by Mr. Wilhelm, -and arranged by Mme. Lanner--followed on October 31st of the -same year, with that graceful dancer, Mme. Palladino, and Signor -Albertieri in the cast, and, later, Mme. Malvina Cavallazzi, who -appeared for the first time in ballet skirts at the Empire, and -for the last time in the same typical costume; her subsequent -appearances being usually in male character, of which she was a truly -fine exponent. “Diana” was followed by “Robert Macaire.” - -Early next year came the first London production of Paul Martinetti -and Hervé’s “A Duel in the Snow,” which was less in the nature of a -regular ballet than of pure pantomime, was a finely dramatic effort -well staged and acted. In the spring of ’eighty-nine was produced -another superb ballet, “Cleopatra” (inspired by Sir Rider Haggard’s -novel, then appearing in serial form in the pages of the _Illustrated -London News_), which ran for some four months and was immensely -admired. - -In the autumn it gave place to a popular production, dealing with -the diversions, and bearing the title of “The Paris Exhibition”; and -in December of the same year, on the eve of Christmas Eve, came a -wonderful production, “The Dream of Wealth,” by Mme. Katti Lanner, -with music by that fine composer--so long afterwards associated -with the Empire--Mons. L. Wenzel, and with costumes and accessories -designed “as before” by Mr. Wilhelm. The cast included that superb -mime, Signora Malvina Cavallazzi, as a Miser; Signor Luigi Albertieri -as the Demon of Avarice; and dainty little Mlle. Bettina de Sortis as -_première_, representing “The Key of the Jewel Casket.” - -The same admirable trio were included in the new ballet, “Cécile” -(by Lanner, Wenzel, and Wilhelm, again), which followed on May -20th, 1890, the _première danseuse_ being Mlle. Giuri, a dancer of -exquisite finish and singularly _élégante_ style, as well as a most -admirable mime. The period of the _divertissement_ was Louis-Seize, -and the production was very charmingly staged, one of the chief -points being a wonderful colour scheme of almost one tone, composed -of white and silver and mother-of-pearl. This was in the second -tableau, depicting a court in the palace of a Rajah who had very -wrongly abducted a pupil from a French school! In this ballet that -delightful English dancer Miss Topsy Sinden first made her London -_début_ as a tiny child, with her brother, Bert Sinden. - -The spring of next year was marked by the production of “Orfeo,” -the scenario of which was by Mr. Wilhelm, the scenery by Telbin. It -was an impressive example of classic ballet. Mme. Cavallazzi was a -superb exponent of the title-_rôle_, Miss Ada Vincent was excellent -as Eurydice, and good support was given by Mlle. Adèle Rossi and -Signor Cecchetti. The autumn of the same year saw the advent of “By -the Sea,” perhaps the earliest of the “up-to-date” ballets; and on -December 22nd that of “Nisita,” the latter a romantic ballet with an -Albanian setting, a very pretty second tableau showing a “Revel of -the Fairies,” and with Mlle. Emma Palladino as the handsome heroine -Nita, and Mme. Cavallazzi as the hero, Delvinos. The first night this -was produced, December 22nd, 1891, by the way, there was one of the -very worst fogs London has ever seen, so thick that you could not see -the drop curtain from the third row of the stalls! But the innate -brightness of the production overcame its gloomy environment at birth -and it ran for months. - -In May, 1892, came “Versailles,” another superb production for the -scenario of which, as well as of course the costumes, Mr. Wilhelm -was mainly responsible, though it was as usual “choregraphically” -arranged by Mme. Katti Lanner, with delightful music by Mons. Leopold -Wenzel. This ran until September, when “Round the Town” (a ballet -the scenario of which was by Mr. George Edwardes and Mme. Lanner) -was staged, and proved so popular as a topical _divertissement_ (not -unlike our present day _Revues_) that it held the bill for some -months. An interesting point in connection with this ballet was -that the late Miss Katie Seymour, one of the very neatest English -dancers that ever trod the London boards, joined the cast after -the production had run a little time, and as a Salvation Lassie -performed an eccentric dance with Mr. Willie Warde, also an extremely -able English dancer, that was one of the successes of the theatrical -season. In 1893, the theatre was closed from October 27th to November -2nd, owing to intervention by the County Council. - -One of the finest productions yet seen at a theatre which by now had -become famous for its ballets, was “Faust,” first produced on May -6th, 1895. The scenario of this, as well as the costume designs, -were by Mr. Wilhelm, and it was an ingenious variation of the Gounod -version, the music not by Gounod, but by Mr. Meyer Lutz and Mr. -Ernest Ford, the ballet being arranged as usual by Mme. Lanner. Mme. -Cavallazzi was superb as Faust; Miss Ada Vincent was the Gretchen, -Mlle. Zanfretta was a striking exponent of Mephistopheles, and among -the cast was Mr. Will Bishop, a clever eccentric dancer, who was -associated with the Empire for several seasons. This was followed, -in the January of 1896, by a charming ballet entitled “La Danse,” in -which the history of dancing was illustrated and various dancers of -the older schools, such as Sallé, Taglioni and others, as well as the -modern, were typified. In October came “Monte Cristo”--another superb -production staged and designed by Mr. Wilhelm, to whom I am indebted -for many interesting details of the Empire’s history. This brings to -a close the record of success from the opening of the Empire in 1887 -to the close of 1896. This first phase was one of increasing triumph; -a second, more splendid still, was to come. We had seen Ballet -perfect of its kind. But yet, perfection was to be crowned by the -supremacy of terpsichorean and mimetic art--the art of Adeline Génée. - -“Under One Flag,” a topical ballet in celebration of Queen Victoria’s -Diamond Jubilee, in 1897, ran for some months. Before the close of -the year the Treasure Island tableau in “Monte Cristo” was staged, -and in this, on November 22nd, 1897, a certain historic event took -place--Mlle. Adeline Génée made her London _début_ at the Empire -Theatre. - -One of her critics at the time wrote that: “Her _pas seuls_ commanded -encores which were thoroughly deserved. The dancer is lissom to a -degree and thoroughly mistress of her art. With her terpsichorean -ability she has the advantage of a prepossessing personality, -which will assist in endearing her to the public.” So much did -her personality endear her to the public that Mlle. Génée’s first -engagement at the Empire _for six weeks extended to over ten years_, -with return visits after that! - -Looking back at the great dancers of the past, we see that all -illustrate the incalculable value of personality in art. The -technique of a Camargo or Sallé, Taglioni or Grahn, Karsavina or -Génée, has the same foundation--the traditional “five positions,” -which are to the Dance what the octave is to the sister art of Music. -Before a dancer can hope to appear with success on any stage she -must have acquired a knowledge of those “five positions,” and their -possibilities of choregraphic combination. The ease and rapidity with -which she illustrates them, the fluidity of the phrases and melodies -of movement which she evolves from them, and the qualities of -“finish” and “style” are finally achieved only by incessant practice. -She must attain as complete a mastery of the mechanism of her body as -can be attained. No technique in any art is acquired without labour; -and no success is won without technique. That much therefore can be -taken for granted in any great artist. But persistent practice and -the acquisition of a fine technique may still leave a dancer merely -an exquisite automaton if she has not “personality”; a quality -not readily defined, but which undeniably marks her as different -from others. Perhaps that is, after all, the truest definition--a -differentiation from others. - -Endowed with the royal gift of personality, Mlle. Génée had worked -incessantly before she made her first appearance in London at about -the age of seventeen. Born in Copenhagen of Danish parents, the -famous dancer began her training when only eight years old, under -the tuition of her uncle and aunt, Mons. and Mme. Alexander Génée, -both of whom (the latter as Mlle. Zimmermann) had won considerable -reputation as dancers, and producers of ballet, at various -continental opera-houses and theatres in the ’sixties and ’seventies. -They had appeared at Copenhagen, Vienna, Dresden, Munich, Budapest, -and at Stettin, where Mons. Alexander Génée had a theatre for some -years, and where Mlle. Adeline made some of her earliest appearances -as a child. Subsequently she went to Berlin and to Munich, and it was -while dancing in the latter city that she was called to London by Mr. -George Edwardes on behalf of the Empire management. - -Her first appearance here was emphatically a success. But it was her -performance as the Spirit of the “Liberty of the Press” in the famous -Empire ballet, “The Press” (invented and designed by Mr. Wilhelm with -the choregraphic support of Mme. Lanner and music by Mons. Wenzel), -on February 14th, 1898, that first marked her--and for many years -to come--as a London “star.” The ballet gave her scope for some -wonderful _pas_, and proved immensely popular. It was a novel idea, -artistically carried out, and illustrated the history and power of -the Fourth Estate. A number of charming coryphées were ingeniously -attired as representatives of the various newspapers, boys’ costumes -indicating the morning and girls’ the evening journals. The venerable -_Times_ was typified by a man in the guise of Father Time, with -hour-glass and other symbols of his ancient office, and accompanied -by a retinue. Mme. Cavallazzi represented Caxton, Father of the -Printing Press; Mlle. Zanfretta, the Spirit of Fashion; and there -were typical costumes for _The Standard_, _The Daily Telegraph_, _The -Globe_, _The Daily Mail_ (then two years old!), _The Illustrated -London News_ (who announced that she was “Established 1842”), _The -Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News_, _The Lady’s Pictorial_, _The -Sketch_, _The Referee_, and others too numerous to name. So popular -did the ballet prove that this also ran for months, and it was not -until October of the same year that a new production, “Alaska,” was -staged, the scenario of which was by Mr. Wilhelm, the choregraphy by -Mme. Lanner, and music by Mons. Wenzel. - -The production which a contemporary critic described as “one of -the most gorgeous ballets ever produced at the Empire,” is another -example of the influence of topical events on the history of the -Ballet, for it was due to the discovery of the Klondyke goldfields, -the first news of which had come to us the year before, that is, -in Jubilee year, but the real wonders of which only began fully to -reveal themselves in the summer of 1898, when everyone talked and -dreamed of little else than “Klondyke”! The ballet opened with a -blinding snowstorm, and the scene, laid in the snow-bound regions -of the North-West, glowed, as the storm ceased, with the grandeur -of the Aurora Borealis. The story dealt with the adventures of one -Alec Wylie (Mme. Cavallazzi), leader of an expedition to Klondyke, -who, tempted by the Demon Avarice, quarrels with and leaves for -dead his partner, Frank Courage, whose life is saved by the ice -fairies and who is vouchsafed a vision of golden realms by the Fairy -Good Fortune. The production was rich in striking scenes and stage -effects, and once again Mlle. Génée further confirmed her growing -capacity to “endear” herself to London audiences by her performance -as the Fairy Good Fortune. - -On May 8th of the following year, 1899, “Round the Town Again,” by -Mme. Lanner, Mr. Wilhelm and Mons. Wenzel, was produced. This was -entirely different from the original “Round the Town,” and with a -second edition, also further altered, in January, 1900, ran until the -end of August, 1900, that is, for fifteen months! Mlle. Génée, Mlle. -Zanfretta and Mr. Will Bishop were the leading dancers, with a change -of cast for a time when Mlle. Edvige Gantenberg took up Mlle. Génée’s -part of Lisette, a French maid, during the latter’s absence on a -brief holiday. A revised edition of “By the Sea,” under the title -of “Seaside,” came on in September, 1900, the cast including Mlle. -Génée, Signor Santini, Mr. Will Bishop and also Mr. Frank Lawton, -whose whistling had so long been one of the attractions, elsewhere, -of the “Belle of New York.” - -Next came a fascinating ballet “Les Papillons,” the scenario and -staging of which were by Mr. Wilhelm. Of this an enthusiastic critic -declared: “It is, indeed, a beautiful butterfly ballet that the -Empire Theatre is just now able to boast. With it the management -draws crowded houses, and sends them away delighted--delighted with -the colour, exhilarated by the movement, charmed by the fancy, and -ready to sing the praises of all concerned in a truly marvellous -production, and particularly of Mr. Wilhelm, whose designs have given -further proof of the taste which governs his fertile imagination -and invention, and of Mme. Katti Lanner, for whom the dances and -evolutions mean another veritable triumph.” Mlle. Adeline Génée, -as lead, played “Vanessa Imperialis,” the Butterfly Queen, who -was “discovered” at the opening of the ballet fast asleep in the -lovely realm over which she reigned. A glow-worm patrol guarded her -slumbers, which ended with the coming of dawn, when she joined her -subjects and the flower-fays in dances, and the revels of a fairy -midsummer’s day dream. - -On November 6th of the same year followed “Old China,” a delightful -ballet, invented and designed by Mr. C. Wilhelm, associated, as -usual, with Mme. Lanner and Mons. Wenzel, and with Mlle. Génée -as _première danseuse_. The opening scene showed a mantelpiece, -backed by a great mirror, in which the actions of a little Dresden -China Shepherdess (Mlle. Génée) and her two troublesome lovers, -were exactly repeated in the looking-glass, through which finally -the indignant damsel stepped--to the chagrin of her disconsolate -lovers--right into Willow Pattern Land, which formed the second -scene, and into which some particularly rich and beautiful effects -were introduced. “Old China” ran for some months, and on May 28th of -the following year was succeeded by another “topical” ballet, “Our -Crown,” again the work of the accomplished trio, who had so long -contributed to the success of the Empire productions, and were now -receiving the brilliant assistance of the Danish _première_, who had -thoroughly established herself in popular favour. It was, of course -in celebration of that crowning of the late King Edward which had -been so unhappily postponed, through his late Majesty’s illness on -the very eve of what should have been his Coronation. This, again, -was a most brilliant production, and the final tableau, practically -a “Staircase” scene, in which the great stage was built up with -groups representative of the jewelled products of the various British -colonies, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, pearls, was magnificent. As in -the case of the Victorian Jubilee ballet of five years before, this -was a conspicuous triumph in the particularly difficult sphere of -_ballets d’occasion_. - -The first production of 1903 was also the first of what may be -called essentially the Génée ballets--ballets, that is, which seemed -more particularly than before, infused with the personality of this -accomplished dancer. Since her London _début_ in 1897 she had played -the leading part, certainly, but now it seemed almost as if her -personality coloured the whole ballet itself, even as unquestionably -her supreme technique set an example and had its influence in raising -the already high standard of technique throughout the _corps de -ballet_. The scenario and staging of “The Milliner Duchess” were by -Mr. Wilhelm, and the story was specially designed to give Mlle. Génée -an opportunity of further exhibiting her gifts as an actress. Into -a fashionable throng frequenting the establishment of an up-to-date -duchess who was running a milliner’s business was introduced her -demure little niece, impersonated, of course, by Mlle. Génée; and her -first entrance, in a gown of primitively early-Victorian simplicity, -was charming in its hesitancy, and one realised that she was -something more even than a finished dancer, namely, a born mime with -a fine artistic appreciation of the _nuances_ of comedy. - -In her dance descriptive of the charms of country life, so clever -and so perfect was the combination of mime and dance that a positive -illusion was created; and only at the close did one realise, -suddenly, that it was veritably a song without words. A step, a -gesture, a little glance, and one could have sworn one heard a poet’s -lines! Popular as the dancer had already made herself, her work in -this particularly charming ballet confirmed the growing opinion that -here was a dancer who was supreme in her art as a dancer-mime; one to -be reckoned among any gallery of the great artists of the past. - -In the autumn of the same year was staged a ballet by the same -experienced trio, Wilhelm, Lanner and Wenzel, entitled “Vineland,” -which introduced to us some novel and sumptuous colour schemes -and gave us the sensation of Mlle. Génée’s “champagne” dance, a -piece of terpsichorean music as sparkling as the most glittering -of Offenbach’s operatic melodies. Early next year there followed -the lively, up-to-date _divertissement_, “High Jinks,” in which -the leading parts were played by Mlle. Génée, Mlle. Zanfretta, Miss -Dorothy Craske, and Mr. Fred Farren. - -An adaptation by Mr. Wilhelm from the popular Viennese ballet, “Die -Puppenfee,” under the English title of “The Dancing Doll,” was -produced on January 3rd, 1905, and was notable, among other things, -for Mlle. Génée’s impersonation of an automaton in situations not -very dissimilar from those of “La Poupée,” and a notable point in the -production was a delightful eccentric dance by Miss Elise Clerc and -Mr. W. Vokes, as a pair of Dutch dolls. This very successful ballet -went into a second edition on April 3rd, and on June 30th the theatre -was closed for redecoration. - -When it reopened on October 9th of that year the _habitués_ found -considerable alterations had taken place under the direction of Mr. -Frank Verity, F.R.I.B.A., all designed for their increased comfort, -while the decorative style, representative of the true Empire period, -had a note of distinction hitherto lacking in some of the London -vaudeville houses, a note more in keeping with the demands of modern -times. The opening ballet, by Mr. C. Wilhelm and Mr. Sidney Jones, -was “The Bugle Call,” which had a well defined plot, and in which -Mlle. Génée played the part of a French bugler boy of the late -eighteenth century. - -On the afternoon of January 6th (1906) a version of “Cinderella,” -one of the most charming of Mr. Wilhelm’s creations, was staged, -originally with a view only to _matinée_ performances, but it -proved so successful that it went into the evening bill on February -5th. The creator of the ballet had treated the age-long legend of -Cinderella with that respect for its mingled poetry and pathos which -an artist of sympathy must always feel for one of childhood’s most -appealing legends; and he provided Mlle. Génée once more with an -opportunity for proving her remarkable gifts as an actress, fully in -sympathy with the character and sufferings of the little heroine she -impersonated. - -On May 14th, Delibes’ classic example of Ballet in its ideal form, -namely, “Coppélia,” was produced specially for Mlle. Génée, and -gave her, as the heroine, Swanilda, fresh opportunity for further -revelations of her amazing accomplishments as a dancer and for her -expressive acting; in which, by the way, she was admirably supported -by Mr. Fred Farren in the character of the old doll-maker, Coppélia; -and by Miss Dorothy Craske as Coppélia’s somewhat wavering lover. The -production was a great success. How should it have been otherwise? -Perfectly staged and perfectly performed, it is, with its haunting -Slav rhythms and flowing _valse_ melodies, one of the most charming, -and musically, one of the most expressive ballets in the world’s -_répertoire_. - -This was followed on August 6th by one of the most exquisite -productions the Empire had yet seen, a ballet by Mr. C. Wilhelm, -entitled “Fête Galante,” which had been expanded from the opening -scene of “Cinderella.” - -To see the “Fête Galante” was itself a liberal education in the art -of stage effect. It was an ideal realisation of the art of Watteau, -Lancret, and Fragonard. The very spirit of the period was caught, and -it was as if all that one had learnt at secondhand of the people, the -dress, the manners, dances, arts and music of the “Grand Century” in -France had suddenly awakened into life, and become a living reality -of which one was a living part. Yet, paradoxically, it was strangely -dream-like still, even as are Watteau’s pictures. - -The scene represented a garden such as you see in so many of his -paintings, and those of his school, primarily reminiscent of Pater’s -“Conversation Galante” and Watteau’s “Fête Galante,” “L’amour au -Théâtre Français,” and the “Terrace Party.” One of the young Court -ladies reminded one of the central figure in the “Bal sous une -Colonnade.” A minuet was in progress. All was stately and dream-like, -made the more so by the music. - -For all the gaiety of the huntsmen’s entrance it was gaiety demure, -as if restrained by an inherent sense of fitness with stately -surroundings; and so with the troupe of dancers, introduced for the -diversion of the Marquise Belle Etoile, and the Court ladies and -courtiers grouped about her. The mood of all, demurely gay, or gaily -demure, was suffused with a stately languor, a dream-like grace that -found an echo in the subtle colour-harmonies of the old-world garden -in which the people moved. - -And when the opera-dancer, L’Hirondelle, and Passepied the master -of the revels, began their _pas de deux_, the climax of exquisite -illusion was reached, and Camargo was before us--the Camargo -of Lancret’s famous picture, with the soft, full white skirts, -trimmed with garlands of small pink roses and falling almost to the -ankle; Camargo with the red-heeled, red-rosetted shoes; with blue -shoulder-knot and powdered hair adorned with pale blue ribbons. - -As the fête drew to a close the picture mellowed in the amber light -of a waning day; and, amid fallen leaf and chestnut bloom, slowly -marquise and prince, Court lady and courtier, dancer and page, began -in stately fashion to dance, their shadows lengthening in the failing -light, the music growing slower and dreamier as, little by little, -the picture was re-formed into the likeness of the opening scene, and -the falling curtain brought one back into the world of living things -to-day. - -Another brilliant reconstruction of the Past was achieved by Mr. -Wilhelm in his creation of “The Débutante” (November 15th, 1906), -which revivified the men and maids and _modes_, the dance of life, -and the life of the dance, of that strangely interesting period of -the ’thirties and ’forties, the days of Pauline Duverney, Leroux, -Fanny Elssler, and Taglioni’s earlier years. The scene represented -the _Salon de Danse_ attached to an opera-house, the story dealing -with the refusal of a star to take up her part in a ballet which is -on the eve of production, her place being taken at the eleventh hour -by a _débutante_ (Mlle. Génée) with almost miraculous abilities. -For this production, and in order that the style of the earlier -dances should be represented on the stage with regard for accuracy -and tradition, Mme. Katti Lanner, who had left the Empire in 1905, -was induced to withdraw from her retirement temporarily at the -request of the Directors, and out of personal friendship towards Mr. -Wilhelm, with whose artistic aims she had so constantly shown her -sympathy. Her reappearance to take another “call” proved another -personal triumph. The ballet was indeed a charming work, fascinating -to students of the dance and mime; and it proved so successful that -a new one was not required until “Sir Roger de Coverley,” by Adrian -Ross and Dr. Osmond Carr, staged by Mr. Wilhelm, came into the bill -on May 7th in the following year. As its title betokens, it dealt -with the period of Queen Anne and showed a charming representation -of the life of old Vauxhall. This, too, ran for some months and -was succeeded on September 30th by “The Belle of the Ball,” which -delighted many old frequenters of the Empire with its recollection of -scenes from many of the earlier operatic favourites of the ’sixties -and ’seventies, such as “Madame Angot,” “The Grand Duchess,” and -other light operas, coming up to more recent productions, such as -“The Belle of New York,” “The Geisha,” and others. - -[Illustration: Mlle. Adeline Génée] - -The production marked the _début_ of that brilliant young English -dancer, Miss Phyllis Bedells, and also the end of Mlle. Génée’s -unbroken ten years’ reign at the Empire Theatre, the tenth -anniversary of her first appearance being celebrated on November -22nd, when the house was packed from floor to ceiling with a crowd -whose growing enthusiasm culminated in a perfect tornado of -applause on the falling of the curtain and something like a score of -“calls”; the dancer having achieved by her personality and technique -such a triumph as had not been known in London since the great days -of Taglioni and the famous _Pas de Quatre_ of the ’forties. She left -to carry her influence to America, but there were of course return -visits which concern us not at present in dealing only with what may -be styled her ten years’ reign. - -But in watching that decade closely with all its procession of -successes, one thing there is that strikes one very forcibly. It -was only the natural corollary of the previous decade before the -advent of Mlle. Génée. For some twenty years the artistic influence -of one mind had been, never obtrusive, but invariably evident; never -obtrusive, that is, to the detriment of that balance of the arts -which makes a perfect ballet; I mean the artistic influence of Mr. -C. Wilhelm. Before the coming of Mlle. Génée they had had some good -dancers and some great artistic successes; but there had hardly been, -perhaps, quite that unity and perfection of _ensemble_ which the -coming of a dancer of superb technique made possible, and which, it -may be, enabled a designer of ballet, already of great experience -and inspired always by high artistic motives--not only to aim at, -but to _count on_, achieving just the effect at which he aimed. -Theatrical art must always be a somewhat composite art, but its best -achievements come from a perfect blending of artistic sympathies, -forming a source of mutual inspiration. So, while the personality and -technical accomplishment of Mlle. Génée must have proved a stimulus -to the poetic imagination of an artist like Mr. Wilhelm, so, too, -the famous Danish _danseuse_ could well afford to admit a debt of -inspiration to the refined, sensitive and poetic art of Mr. Wilhelm, -who has provided so invariably a worthy and gracious medium for her -supreme art as dancer-mime. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV - -THE EMPIRE 1907-1914 - - -When the news was first announced that an end was to come to Mlle. -Adeline Génée’s ten years’ reign at the Empire and that the famous -dancer was seeking, if not new worlds to conquer, at least to conquer -what was once always spoken of as “The ‘New’ World,” many who had -followed the progress of Ballet in London must have wondered where -anyone could hope to find a successor to her throne, and who would -have the courage to accept an offer thereof. - -But London theatrical managers are not lacking in resource, or -English girls in courage; and it was with real pleasure that we -heard that so worthy a successor had been found as that graceful and -essentially English dancer, Miss Topsy Sinden, who had already been -associated with the Empire as a child some years before. - -Of Mlle. Génée’s triumph in “The Belle of the Ball,” I have already -spoken. Shortly after, the production underwent a change, and the -fact that the new version was still in the bill on the following June -1st, proves the popularity of the production and of the Empire’s -choice of Miss Sinden as _première danseuse_. Her success was the -more interesting in that in temperament and in methods she was -entirely different from the famous Danish dancer. A typical English -girl, with all the charm of looks and manner implied thereby, she -had studied not so much the purely traditional French or Italian -school of ballet-dancing--though she had, of course, acquired that -too--but the English school; of which the late Miss Kate Vaughan was, -in her time, the finest exponent, and of which Miss Sylvia Grey, Miss -Phyllis Broughton, the late Miss Katie Seymour, Miss Letty Lind, -Miss Alice Lethbridge, and Miss Mabel Love, may be taken as leading -representatives during the past twenty years. - -Miss Sinden had had long and invaluable stage experience before -becoming _première danseuse_ at the Empire; had appeared in pantomime -at Covent Garden, Drury Lane, at the old “Brit,” and at Liverpool -and elsewhere; had “done” the Halls; had appeared at the Haymarket -under Sir H. Beerbohm Tree’s management; had appeared at the Gaiety -in “Cinderella Up-to-Date,” “In Town,” “Don Juan,” “The Gaiety Girl,” -and “The Shop Girl”; at Daly’s in “The Greek Slave,” in “The Country -Girl,” and other productions; and always she won fresh distinction as -one of the most vivacious, _piquante_, graceful and finished English -dancers the London stage has ever known. - -Her appearance in “The Belle of the Ball” was marked by the most -cordial welcome from the Press and the public, and one of the first -greetings she received on her return to the Empire was a telegram -from Brighton which ran as follows: “My good wishes, and I hope -you will do yourself justice. You are one of the best dancers I -know.--Adeline Génée.” That Miss Sinden _did_ do herself justice -was seen in the enthusiastic cheers and demands for _encores_ which -greeted her at the close of her scenes on that “big night” of her -return to the Empire stage. - -“The Belle of the Ball” gave place to a revival of “Coppélia” -and--the return of Mlle. Adeline Génée. Many as her triumphs had been -during her ten years’ unbroken reign, that Wednesday night, June -10th, 1908, must be recorded in Mlle. Génée’s memory in letters -of gold, for even she can never have seen such a house, so crammed -from floor to ceiling with a distinguished audience, including King -George (then Prince of Wales), and been welcomed with such thunderous -cheering and applause as greeted her on her first appearance through -the little brown door of Swanilda’s balconied house, when she floated -down the stairs to the centre of the stage, so lightly indeed that -she seemed almost to flutter before the storm of enthusiasm which -welcomed her return. And how she danced! Only her peer among poets -could describe it, and then he would probably feel as Thackeray felt -when endeavouring to do justice to Taglioni in “Sylphide!” - -For some seasons past we have had the Russian ballet as a standing -dish, over which various epicures have gloated as if no other fare -had ever been. But it is interesting to note that the first of “all -the Russias” was Mlle. Lydia Kyasht, who made her London _début_ at -the Empire, in some dances with M. Adolph Bolm, on August 17th, 1908. -For the present, and to preserve historical order, let the fact be -merely recorded, leaving further reference thereto until the time it -becomes necessary to chronicle the handsome Russian dancer’s later -successes. - -On September 7th of that same year came the production of one of the -most perfect gems yet seen in the historic gallery of Ballet, namely, -“The Dryad,” a pastoral fantasy in two tableaux, by that brilliant -composer, Miss Dora Bright. From time to time, in such productions -as “The Milliner Duchess,” “Coppélia,” and “The Débutante,” we had -had an opportunity of realising something of Mlle. Génée’s gifts as -an actress apart from her supremacy as a dancer, but it was mainly -as a dancer, surrounded by dancers, that we have seen her. Now, -however, we were to have a conclusive revelation of the fact that -had Mlle. Génée not elected to become a great dancer she could have -achieved distinction as an actress. The story, of which she was the -heroine, gave her an opportunity of proving that; and with herself -in the title-_rôle_, that artistic singer, Mr. Gordon Cleather, -as a shepherd, and with the support of wonderfully expressive and -beautifully orchestrated _mimodrame_ music, the sister arts of dance, -song, mime, and music, were brought together to give us a balanced -harmony of lovely and memorable impressions. - -The fantasy told how a certain Dryad, fairest of the Wood Nymphs, -subdued all mortals to her by her loveliness and the magic of her -dancing, whom the implacable Aphrodite caused to be imprisoned -in an oak tree, only granting her freedom to come forth once in -every ten years between sunrise and sunset until she should find -a mortal faithful to her during the allotted period. A shepherd, -passing through the wood on the night of her freedom, sees her -dancing beneath the moon, and is lured to love her and vows eternal -constancy. When the dawn breaks she bids him farewell and re-enters -the tree, which closes around her. After ten years have passed away, -the Dryad comes forth again seeking to allay the longing she has -kindled, but her lover had not been constant, and the wood is empty. -She dances through the night, deluding herself with hope until the -hour of her doom returns and she is compelled to re-enter the tree. - -The Dryad, afire with joy at being released from the imprisoning -tree, and discovering the beauty of the sunlit, flower-strewn -forest glade; joyous in her love of the handsome shepherd and his -love returned; her sorrow at parting to return to the tree; her -deeper joy on her renewed release; her alternating hope and fear -as the concluding moment of the ten-year tryst draws nigh; her -eager search for her lover; the shuddering tremors of doubt as she -finds him not; her triumphant happiness as she hears his voice; the -heart-wringing suspense, and then the overwhelming despair, as she -finds he has forgotten her for another love and passes on his way, -leaving her solitary and doomed to be imprisoned yet again within -the tree, desolate amid autumnal desolation; these, and a thousand -more _nuances_, expressive of poetic emotion, were conveyed with a -sureness, a sensitiveness, a depth of instinctive dramatic genius -that astonished, delighted and enthralled. - -So great was the success of “The Dryad” that Mlle. Génée’s engagement -was extended, but the strain of appearing in both “Coppélia” and -Miss Bright’s exquisite fantasy proving too considerable, the -famous dancer reserved her strength for her final appearance in the -latter, while Mlle. Lydia Kyasht, then comparatively a new-comer to -the Empire audiences, took up the part of “Swanilda,” in Delibes’ -masterpiece with considerable success. - -Ere departing for a forty weeks’ tour of America, Mlle. Génée gave a -farewell “professional” _matinée_ at the Empire, at which everyone -of note in “_the_ profession” was present, and gave her the same -enthusiastic appreciation as had always been accorded by the lay -public. - -Following Mlle. Génée’s departure for America, and Mlle. Kyasht’s -appearance in “Coppélia,” came the production on October 19th, 1908, -of a ballet in five scenes by Lieut.-Col. Newnham-Davis, entitled -“A Day in Paris,” produced by Mr. Fred Farren, with music by Mr. -Cuthbert Clarke, the entire production being designed and supervised -by Mr. C. Wilhelm, who was at his happiest in invention and control -of colour in the prismatic beauty of the final tableau of the -Artists’ Ball. - -On the occasion of her previous appearance Mlle. Kyasht’s name had -been printed in the programme as Mlle. Lydia Kyaksht, and I remember -well the humorous dismay the late Mr. H. J. Hitchins expressed to me -as he asked: “How _can_ one pronounce a name like that?” and the -eagerness with which he welcomed the suggestion that it would be -easier if the second “k” were omitted. Kyasht it became, and it is as -Mlle. Kyasht that we shall always remember the handsome dancer who -was first of the Russians to win a following in London. She had, of -course, received her training at the Imperial Theatre, Petrograd, to -which she had been attached some time, appearing there for some eight -months each year, and at Monte Carlo and other fashionable centres -for the remaining months, before she made her London _début_. She has -little of that vehemence and abandon which characterises so many of -the modern Russian school, but she has _au fond_ the same technique, -a finely formed and balanced figure, and personal beauty, and her -first appearances with that fine dancer, M. Adolf Bolm, in national -dances and _pas de ballet_ evoked very cordial admiration. - -“A Day in Paris” was notable not only for the appearance of the -new Russian _première_ in a couple of _pas seuls_ and an extremely -charming _Danse Russe_, but for the brilliant acting and step-dancing -of Mr. Fred Farren, who as a Montmartre student freakishly -officiating as “a man from Cook’s” to a party of tourists, proved -himself a born comedian; while in association with that lithe and -graceful dancer, Miss Beatrice Collier, his _Danse des Apaches_--a -dance without the charm of beauty but undeniably clever--was one -of the “sensations” of the production, so much so that the dancers -became in much request for entertaining at social functions that -season, as Tango performers have been since. Another member of the -company, who, though but a child, achieved a marked success, was -Miss Phyllis Bedells, who did some wonderful toe-dancing with, -and without, a skipping rope. The ballet was one of the liveliest -and “jolliest” of many such topical and essentially “modern” -entertainments at the Empire, and it ran from October 1908, well into -the next summer. - -Yet once again Mlle. Adeline Génée returned to the scene of her -former triumphs to achieve one more, this time in the famous -_ballet-divertissement_ from the third act of Meyerbeer’s opera, -“Roberto il Diavolo,” which was produced by her uncle, M. Alexandre -Génée, on July 3rd, 1909, the _mise en scène_ and costumes being -designed and supervised by Mr. C. Wilhelm. Once more we had an -opportunity of enjoying a perfect representation of one of the -classics of Ballet, in which Mlle. Adeline Génée appeared as the -Spirit of Elena the wicked abbess, who, with the spectres of the dead -and buried nuns, haunts a ruined Sicilian Convent. It was a fine and -_spirituelle_ performance, and a fitting crown to what we may perhaps -be allowed to call Mlle. Génée’s Imperial career. - -This was followed on October 9th, 1909, by “Round the World,” a new -dramatic ballet in six scenes, by Lieut.-Col. Newnham-Davis and Mr. -C. Wilhelm, the entire production being designed and supervised by -the latter, and the dances arranged by Mr. Fred Farren, who himself -played the part of a resourceful chauffeur, while Mlle. Lydia Kyasht -impersonated the lovely heroine, Natalia, a Russian gipsy girl, and -Miss Phyllis Bedells her younger brother, Dmitri. The story concerned -the winning of a wager by the hero, a Captain Jack Beresford, (Mr. -Noel Fleming), who has to circle the world in a month; and the course -of his adventures took us from the grounds of the Monaco Club to the -Place Krasnaia, Moscow, on the occasion of a wonderfully realised -national fête, where he rescues Natalia and her brother from Tzabor, -a brutal proprietor of a troupe of gipsy dancers. The third scene -was on the Siberian railway; the fourth a lovely scene at Tokio, in -the Garden of Ten Thousand Joys, where the hero is nearly poisoned; -the fifth, ’Frisco, in “One-eyed Jack’s” saloon, with a capital -_Duo Mexicain_ for Mr. Fred Farren and pretty Miss Unity More; the -sixth and last scene being laid in the foyer of the Empire Theatre. -The production was a sort of cinema-ballet in the variety of its -scenes and the excitement of its story, and gave scope for a number -of attractive and characteristic dances from Mlle. Kyasht, Mr. Fred -Farren and Miss Phyllis Bedells. It proved so popular that it ran on -into 1910, when, on March 21st of that year, it went into a second -edition called “East and West.” - -Mlle. Kyasht and M. Adolf Bolm, who, early in May, 1910, appeared -in a “Fantaisie Chorégraphique,” a series of charming dance-idylls, -produced by M. Bolm, are remarkable for that high-voltage -dancing, that volcanic energy and rapidity yet grace of movement, -characteristic of the Russian school, some notable exponents of which -were appearing just about the same time elsewhere. - -The chief dance of the suite at the Empire was one in which Mlle. -Kyasht appeared as a beautiful Princess, and M. Bolm as her enamoured -slave--Mlle. Kyasht all charm and poetic ecstasy, M. Bolm all fiery -energy and terpsichorean miracles, now whirling madly as the wildest -of Dervishes, now suddenly stopping, poised and posed like some -perfect example of classic statuary. The dancers received excellent -support from Miss Phyllis Bedells and Mr. Bert Ford; the mounting -and costumes were novel and admirably designed; and the production -generally was voted a great success. - -In the following July came a delightful _ballet-divertissement_, “The -Dancing Master,” by Mr. C. Wilhelm, adapted from the first scene -of his earlier success, “The Débutante,” the period chosen--that -of 1835--affording a delightful opportunity for a quaint and -picturesque _ensemble_ of “early-Victorian” or slightly pre-Victorian -character and costume. Mr. Fred Farren repeated his excellent -character-study of M. Pirouette, the excitable _maître de ballet_ -at the Opera-House; Mlle. Kyasht made a handsome impersonation of -Mimi the _débutante_; and Miss Phyllis Bedells added to her laurels -as Mlle. Lutine, the clever head pupil. On August 8th of the same -year Miss Bedells took up Mlle. Kyasht’s part of Mimi during the -latter’s absence on a holiday, and made a great hit as a bewitching -representative of the _débutante_. - -On October 10th following Mlle. Kyasht and Mr. Fred Farren appeared -in another of Miss Dora Bright’s ideal little fantasies, “The -Faun,” in which the former played Ginestra, a little flower-girl, -and the latter appeared in the title-_rôle_ as a marble faun who -comes to life when sprinkled with water from a magic fountain. The -production, designed and supervised by Mr. C. Wilhelm, was enchanting -in its blending of legend and mystery, with a sunny naturalism in -presentation. - -It was a charming idyll, and provided an excellent opportunity for -clever acting by Mr. Fred Farren, who fully realised the classic -and poetic idea in his representation of the Faun, while Mlle. -Kyasht quite surpassed her former work in her appealing and dramatic -impersonation of the bewitched Ginestra. - -A considerable contrast to the classic grace of this Tuscan idyll -was seen in the following month when “Ship Ahoy!” a nautical -one-scene _divertissement_ by Mr. C. Wilhelm, with music by Mr. -Cuthbert Clarke, was staged by Mr. Fred Farren, who also arranged -the dances. It was a lively and attractive production, with plenty -of fun and a dash of melodrama, the fun being contributed mainly by -Mr. Fred Farren as a dandy young officer on leave, and for all his -“dudism” wide-awake enough to frustrate the horrid machinations of a -treacherous Ayah (originally and admirably played by Miss Beatrice -Collier and later by Miss Carlotta Mossetti) and her accomplice. -The young officer’s lighter moments were happily given up to -entertaining the Anglo-Indian passengers on H.M.S. _Empire_ with -step-dancing, the nimbleness and neatness of which only Mr. Farren -can excel. Bright and charming dances were also contributed by -Miss Phyllis Bedells and Miss Unity More, while Mlle. Lydia Kyasht -distinguished herself as Léontine L’Etoile, a French _danseuse_; and -a special word of commendation is due to the freshness of invention -and novelty of effect achieved by the designer in dealing with the -somewhat hackneyed stage subject of life aboard ship. The final -_ensemble_, when the lady passengers improvised fancy ball costumes -from the ship’s flag-lockers and danced beneath the soft glow of the -swinging lanterns was a particularly novel, pretty and inspiriting -picture. - -Once more we had a classic ballet when, on May 18th, 1911, Delibes’ -“Sylvia,” which, originally in five tableaux, was compressed by Mr. -C. Wilhelm into one for production at the Empire. With its poetic -mythological story and charming sylvan setting, “Sylvia”--first -produced at the Paris Opera on June 14th, 1876--has always been -popular on the Continent; and it is curious that London should have -had to wait some twenty-five years before again seeing a ballet, -selections from which had long been familiar as _entr’acte_-music -for theatre orchestras. Still, it was worth waiting to see it so -admirably staged. - -Another contrast followed in the extremely modern and somewhat -formless production, “New York,” an original ballet in two scenes, -by Lieut.-Col. Newnham-Davis, in which seemingly every form of -American eccentricity in dancing--including the “Yankee Tangle!”--was -introduced. There was a dance of Bowery boys and girls; a “Temptation -Rag,” by Mr. Fred Farren; a Buck Dance, an “Octette Eccentric”; a -“Bill-poster’s Dance”; the aforesaid “Yankee Tangle,” and other not -particularly beautiful or edifying examples, though the staging of -the “Roof Garden” scene gave one a very agreeable scheme of warm -crimson and rosy colour, and a picturesquely conceived and dressed -episode of Pilgrim Fathers and Red Indians. - -Early in the next year, a brief but graceful “Dance Episode” was -staged, “The Water Nymph,” arranged by Mlle. Kyasht, who followed -on September 24th with another, entitled “First Love,” in which -she was supported by Mons. Alexander Volinin. This was followed on -February 11th, 1913, by another fanciful ballet-idyll, “The Reaper’s -Dream,” in which Mlle. Lydia Kyasht appeared as the “Spirit of the -Wheatsheaf,” seen and pursued in his dream by the reaper (Miss F. -Martell); while Miss Phyllis Bedells made a dazzling personage as -“Sun-Ray,” flitting in and out the autumn cornfield, which formed -the setting for some very pretty dances by the three ladies and the -Empire _corps de ballet_. - -One of the most artistic productions at the Empire in quite recent -years was certainly the choral ballet, in three tableaux: “Titania,” -which, adapted of course from Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s -Dream,” was arranged and produced by Mlle. Lydia Kyasht and by Mr. -C. Wilhelm, the latter of whom was, as usual, entirely responsible -for the pictorial side of the ballet. It is interesting to note -that this was not the first time a Shakespeare play had been so -treated. No less a person than the great Dryden had adapted “The -Tempest” at a time, shortly before the Great Fire of London, when -Sir William Davenant was producing “dramatic operas” at a theatre -designed by Wren, the Duke’s Theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, which -he held under a patent granted in 1662 by Charles II. These, as an -earlier historian records, were “all set off with the most expensive -decorations of scenes and habits, with the best voices and dancers.” - -[Illustration: - - _Dover St. Studios_ - -Mme. Lydia Kyasht] - -[Illustration: - - _Hugh Cecil_ - -Miss Phyllis Bedells] - -Then, too, it was but a return to early history to give us -vocal-ballet, for all the earliest ballets on the French stage -were always described as “opera-ballets,” long declamatory and -choral scenes being interspersed with dances. Lulli, Rameau, Mouret, -Campra and Monteverde were among the composers of such ballets, many -of which, musically at least, seem wonderfully fresh to-day. This, -however, is but a digression. “Titania” at the Empire was a very -graceful and poetic production, quite fairy-like enough, one feels, -to have delighted even Shakespeare himself, with Mlle. Lydia Kyasht -as a truly regal-looking Titania, Mr. Leonid Joukoff as a dignified -Oberon, Miss Unity More as a nimble Puck (a part later played by Miss -Ivy St. Helier), and Miss Phyllis Bedells as an enchanting “first -fairy,” Philomel. On Mlle. Kyasht’s departure for America the part of -Titania was taken up by Miss Phyllis Bedells, who added yet another -to her growing list of artistic successes. The ballet, which was -beautifully staged, gave us some enchanting pictures, one of which, -the apotheosis of the Fairy Realm seen through a tangled hawthorn -brake, lingers hauntingly in one’s memory. - -A new edition of “The Dancing Master” was subsequently staged and -was notable for some brilliant dancing by Miss Phyllis Bedells, -and by Mr. Edouard Espinosa in the title-_rôle_, by whom it was -produced. Mr. Espinosa, by the way, forms an interesting link with -the historic past. As the son of Mons. Leon Espinosa (1825-1903), -an Officier D’Académie, Mr. Edouard is heir of a great tradition, -and sustains the heritage most worthily. His father was a pupil of -seven of the great masters of the early nineteenth, namely, Coulon -(1820), Henri (1821), Albert (1829), Perrot (1831), Coralli (1831), -Taglioni (1834), and Petipa (1839), to most of whom reference has -already been made, and who were themselves, variously, pupils of the -previous generation--which included Vestris, Noverre, Gardel, and -Dauberval--who, in turn, were tutored by Pécourt and Beauchamps in -the reign of Louis-Quatorze. Mr. Edouard Espinosa himself is a fine -dancer and teacher of the classic and traditional school, and is also -one of the best informed on the history of the dance. - -“Europe,” a topical and patriotic _divertissement_, invented, -designed and produced by Mr. C. Wilhelm (who, despite his _nom de -théâtre_, has an English name and is essentially English born and -bred), achieved, on its first performance on September 7th, 1914, an -instant success. It was worthy of the best traditions of the Empire -Theatre. The choice of such a theme as the condition of Europe, -just before and during the greatest war in history, might have -been called into question on the score of taste, and in the hands -of any but a fine artist might have easily been trivialised. The -subject was treated with marked dramatic ability and poetic dignity, -and the production, passing from the comparative lightness of the -first scene, into the more serious note of the second, attained -to a high level of art in the patriotic symbolism of the third, -and offered a tableau worthy the brush of any English painter of -historical subjects. Since then we have seen “The Vine,” an Arcadian -dance-idyll, invented, designed and supervised by Mr. C. Wilhelm, -while it was produced, and the dances were arranged, by Mr. Fred -Farren. It was superbly staged and proved one of the most original, -picturesque and dramatic productions ever seen at the Empire. Miss -Phyllis Bedell’s impersonation of the Spirit of the Vine seemed to -have in it something of Dionysiac fire and revealed her not only as -an exquisite dancer, but a sensitive and temperamental actress. Miss -Carlotta Mossetti, another singularly expressive and sympathetic -mime, exhibited a sense of classic inspiration in her study of the -young Shepherd tempted by the Vine-Spirit; excellent work also being -done by Miss Connie Walter as the Shepherd’s unhappy wife, and -“Little June,” a lithe and clever little dancer, as the Spirit of -the Mountain Stream. The scenery, painted by Mr. R. C. McCleery; -the costumes, executed by Miss Hastings, were well in keeping with -the poetic character of the story, and the entire stage effect -achieved formed an exquisite setting for the dancer-mimes who were to -interpret the dramatic little idyll. - -So runs, in brief, the chronicle of ballet at the Empire, one which, -if it is somewhat attenuated in later years by the increasing -emphasis of that somewhat casual type of entertainment, the “Revue,” -is nevertheless quite remarkable when one remembers that of the -sixty or more ballets produced at the famous house in twenty-seven -years all were commercially as well as artistically successful, and -that the theatre has not received State-aid, as have the continental -opera-houses where Ballet has been a staple attraction. - -Thoughtless folk, who know little or nothing of the hard, unremitting -toil which goes to make a dancer, or of the artistic training, -thought and feeling which go to make a designer or producer of -ballet, often speak lightly and slightingly of a type of theatrical -production in which are blended colour, form, movement and music -into a balanced harmony of varied arts under the term the art of -Ballet. They rank it, usually, somewhere lower than Drama or Opera. -But the placing of a colour in a colour scheme requires quite as -delicate a taste as the placing of a word in a sentence, or a chord -in a phrase of music; the introduction of a dancer or a group needs -just as critical a care as the introduction of a character in a play -or opera; and the telling of the story, albeit mutely mimed, may be -just as dramatic in effect as in any verbal drama. The art of Ballet -is a complex and beautiful art, at its best a very beautiful; and -those who are prone to dismiss it lightly as a thing that more or -less occurs of itself, and is of slight account as a vehicle for the -deliberate expression of beauty, should rather feel proud to think -that at the Empire in London we have seen, in the course of a quarter -of a century, Ballet of such artistic value as to place it among the -few real art influences of nineteenth and early twentieth-century -London. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV - -FINALE: THE RUSSIANS AND--THE FUTURE - - -It is curious to recall the fact that a taste for dancing has always -been a characteristic of the Londoners, who have supported really -artistic ballet as often as they have had an opportunity. - -The Elizabethan masques; the ballet dancers imported by Rich in the -reign of Anne; and by Garrick, later; by Lumley at Her Majesty’s in -the ’forties; the native productions of Ballet at the Empire and -Alhambra for over a quarter of a century; and, since, the importation -of Russian ballet, first at various “vaudeville” theatres and then -at Covent Garden and at Drury Lane, have all met with enthusiastic -support, and the support has been as catholic as it has been cordial. - -Dancers, of various schools, whether of the traditional ballet -“school,” or otherwise, have quickly found their way into popular -favour. Looking back over theatrical memories of the past twenty -years or so, dance lovers will recall with pleasure seeing at the -Palace Theatre that statuesque and extremely graceful dancer, -Miss Mimi St. Cyr, in a delightful little miniature ballet, “La -Baigneuse,” a dance-_scena_ invented by Mr. George R. Sims, in which -she lured to life the fountain-statue of a piping faun. Some will -recall also a dancer of very different school, Miss Lottie Collins, -whose “Tarrara-boom-de-ay” was a sensation in its way. Then, too, who -that saw her could ever forget that electric dancer hailing from -Australia, Mlle. Saharet, who entered as on the wings of a whirlwind -and, seeming all compact of - -“Passion and power and pride incarnate in laughter,” held us all -spellbound and breathless with sympathetic joy in her abounding -vitality, stimulating and tonic as champagne. - -In more recent times the sensational success of Miss Maud Allan--who -presented us with the somewhat mystical definition of dancing as “the -spontaneous expression of a spiritual state”; and, subsequently, -of Mme. Pavlova and M. Mordkin; is too recent to need recalling, -and too evident to call for specific praise from me when so many -and abler pens have already exhausted their ink in regretting they -could not write in fire. Admirers, particularly feminine devotees, -flocked in hundreds to see Miss Maud Allan dance in a manner which -many doubtless thought wholly new to London, though some might -have recalled that it was somewhat of the same school--though -temperamentally very different--as that of Miss Isadora Duncan, who -had given us dances of a rather similar order some ten years before, -and that they were akin to the mimetic dances of ancient days. - -Miss Allan achieved a remarkable flexibility of movement that -was seen to advantage in her dances to the music of Chopin and -other classic masters. Her interpretation of the “Spring Song” of -Mendelssohn was not wholly new to those who had seen Miss Isadora -Duncan’s exposition of the same music some ten years before. Her -“Salome,” a melodrama in dancing, created a sensation, though -somewhat morbid in effect, and hardly of the same artistic interest -as some of her other achievements. Of her popularity there was no -doubt, and a photograph of one of the queues which awaited any -one of her performances, especially the _matinées_, would--if one -exist--always be valuable to future historians of our time as a mute -but eloquent record. - -Mme. Pavlova, who also first appeared at the Palace Theatre, is an -extremely accomplished _danseuse_ who probably has not troubled, and -certainly has not _needed_ to trouble herself, about definitions of -the dance, for she belongs to a “school,” the basis of which was -defined a century or more ago, and she herself is one of its most -recent and perfect blossomings. Mons. Mordkin, nurtured by the same -school, is superb, and it was no wonder that the first appearance -of these two artistes in their wonderful _pas de deux_, “L’Automne -Bacchanale,” should have fired some of our finest dramatic critics to -expressions of almost frenzied admiration and doubtless driven shoals -of lesser men to the neighbourhood of Hanwell in despair at the -impossibility of finding suitable adjectives for the new wonder that -had come amongst us. One can only deplore the fact that the harmony -which made possible the _pas de deux_ of the first season should -have been, even temporarily, broken, and permitted us only to enjoy -the work of both dancers subsequently in _pas seuls_, or in _pas de -deux_--with other partners. - -One could hardly close a reference to the popular Palace--a reference -necessarily brief, as must be any concerning the various “vaudeville” -houses in a review covering so wide a field--without a passing word -of grateful praise to that bevy of bright young dancers, the “Palace -Girls.” As people of catholic enough taste to enjoy _all_ dancing -that is good in itself--from the vigorous cellar-flap of the street -urchin to the aerial _pas_ of a Pavlova--we may agree that, in a -sense, the Palace has been all the more attractive for the “Palace -Girls.” Somehow the modern comedic spirit appears to express itself -best in short skirts, shapely legs and a jolly smile; and in their -insouciante charm, their neatness, agility, precision and _enfantine_ -gaiety, the “Palace Girls” always seemed to focalise the requirements -of “vaudeville,” and symbolise the attractions of music-hall -modernity. - -Then, at the London Hippodrome, in many a Christmas entertainment, -ingeniously arranged and gorgeously staged, half pantomime, half -ballet, we have seen regular feasts of dancing and always with -enjoyment. But apart from the spectacular productions for which the -Hippodrome early became famous, many a delightful solo dancer and -dance-_scena_ have been viewed there. To have seen those exquisitely -dainty artists, the Wiesenthal Sisters, is to have ineffaceable -memories of a stage-art that seems strangely enough to link up the -classic simplicity of ancient Greece with the Watteauesque artifice -of the eighteenth century, and yet again the clear-seeing artistry, -the supreme and joyous colour-sense of latter day decorative art. -The tone and hue of their chosen background, the simple yet daring -colour-scheme of their dress, the thoughtful, almost dreamy, grace -of their every pose and movement, the purely picture-like effect of -their whole performance, summed up the modern spirit in art that -is striving--perhaps as yet half-consciously--for a revolt from -old methods and stereotyped traditions and for something simpler, -clearer, more direct and, be it said, more beautiful and vital than -we have yet had; the art, in fact, of the men to come rather than the -men who have been, albeit it has drawn inspiration from the eternal -past. The Wiesenthal Sisters were not mere “performers”; they were -poems. - -Elsewhere, at various houses, what other dancers have we seen of -individual distinction? Long remembered must be the sensation caused -by Miss Loie Fuller on her first appearance in London some years -ago, as the introducer of a curious form of dance in which the stage -effects she achieved were the paramount attraction. And what effects -they were--kaleidoscopic, magic, wonderful! Just a woman, with a -brain and shapely form, a mass of filmy draperies floated here and -there, on which were shed the splendour of changing coloured lights, -so that she seemed now some wondrous butterfly, now like a mass of -cloud suffused with the gold of dawn, now like a fountain of living -flame! Yes, Loie Fuller should have been an artist! Should have? _Is_ -an artist, who has not painted pictures but has lived them. - -Then there was Miss Ruth St. Denis at the Scala--a vision of all -the poetry and the mystery of the East. Ruth St. Denis in an Indian -market-place representing a snake-dance, making cobras of her -flexible arms and hands! Ruth St. Denis as a Buddhist acolyte in the -jungle! Ruth St. Denis in a “Dance of the Senses,” so significantly -poetic and full of strange allure. Always the glamour of the East, -but without its menace and without its vice; the East exalted and -austere. Moreau himself might have envied her those dreams of form -and colour she made manifest, and all who saw her surely must have -realised that Ruth St. Denis danced her lovely pictures as an artist -born. - -Yet another artist of marked individuality and intellectual -distinction, Miss Isadora Duncan, was really the first to appear -in London who showed any marked ability to break away from the -traditional schools of ballet and step-dancing, and, casting back -to the days of ancient Greece, began deliberately to use posture -and movement as a means of expressing poetic ideas. I first saw her -at her London _début_, when she appeared in a performance of “A -Midsummer Night’s Dream,” one of a series of Shakespearian revivals -which Mr. F. R. Benson was giving--on February 22nd, 1900--at the old -Lyceum. - -She had but lately arrived from America, and was fired with an -enthusiasm for the graceful dance of classic days, an enthusiasm -which found ample expression in her dance as a wood-nymph in a -Shakespearian production which I still remember as one of the most -beautiful I have seen. Shortly after Miss Duncan gave a special -_matinée_ at the old St. George’s Hall entitled, “The Happier Age -of Gold,” at which idylls of Theocritus, poems by Swinburne and -other poets of classic inspiration, were recited to music and were -either accompanied or followed by an appropriate dance designed -and performed by Miss Duncan, who also set herself the task of -interpreting well-known musical _morceaux_ by means of a dance. - -One of the items on her programme was Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song,” -which received a thoroughly graceful and sympathetic interpretation. -Miss Duncan has, of course, appeared in London frequently since then, -and all dance-lovers will remember the extraordinary charm of the -series of _matinées_ which she gave at the Duke of York’s Theatre at -which she introduced a number of child pupils. There has never been -anything meretricious or pretentious about the work of Miss Isadora -Duncan. It has always been marked by a sense of deep-rooted culture, -classic dignity and poetic charm, and to her, certainly, so far as -London is concerned, belongs the credit of having first introduced a -form of dancing which has only too often since been parodied under -the term of “classic dancing”; and even as she was the first, so, in -my humble judgment, she is the best and truest exponent of a school -which is justified by the beauty of its results, and which is having, -and is likely yet to have, far-reaching influence. - -[Illustration: - - _Dover St. Studios_ - -Miss Isadora Duncan] - -Then again, the Coliseum, young as it is, has already created dance -traditions for itself, and of the best sort. Was it not there first -of all that we were enchanted with the Russian ballet? They were not -the first Russian dancers seen in London, for Mlle. Kyasht and Mme. -Pavlova had preceded them; but they were the first collective example -of Russian ballet from the Moscow and Petrograd Opera-Houses, and -it was here we first saw Mme. Karsavina, one of the most supremely -finished and _élégante_ dancers it has been London’s good fortune -to see. What lightness, what purity and dignity of style, what -perfect execution and perfect ease, and what poetic charm! - -Her _variation_ in the “Sylphide” was a revelation of classic art of -the Taglioni school, and howsoever some may prefer one “school” to -another there must always be much to be said for a training which -assists the evolution of such artists, for at least it is a sure -training with sure and gracious results. - -There is something in tradition when all it said and done, and one -has to remember that while even an iconoclastic “Futurist” cannot -help creating tradition in attempting to do away with it, and while -pure ballet-dancing may not be the one and only kind which can -give delight, it must command the respect that is due to any art -which respects its own traditions, and can produce such dancers as -Mme. Karsavina and those who were first associated with her at the -Coliseum. - -More recently, we were to see at the same house, “Sumurun!” It was -strange indeed to think that a London audience could be held by some -seven scenes of a play in which not a word was spoken; it was a _tour -de force_ of the art of miming, but then also it was a revelation of -the art of stage effect. The decorative scheme, with its simple lines -and ample space, was unlike anything that we had had before--unless -perhaps in the nobler art of Mr. Gordon Craig--and the colour -schemes, mostly of a curiously dry, cool note, were a pleasant change -from the traditional attempts at a stage realism that is only too -often too unreal. - -Since then too there was, of course, the appearance of that dainty -Dresden-china dancer, Mme. Karina in a graceful little dance-_scena_, -“The Colour of Life,” the expressive music of which was by Miss -Dora Bright. Mme. Karina, another dancer who hails from Denmark, -won instant appreciation for the beauty of her work, and is indeed -notable for her precision, grace and distinction. - -Yet again has Mlle. Adeline Génée made welcome reappearances at -the Coliseum, especially in “La Danse”--first produced, I believe, -at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York--which formed a series -of representations of the dances and dancers of the historic -past--forming practically a collection of little cameos of the dance, -having a distinct educational value and presenting a veritable -re-creation of all the great stars of Ballet in the past, from Prévôt -to Taglioni; in all of which the world-famous dancer exhibited the -same high qualities of artistry that she had ever done. - -But among the many dance productions seen at this handsome house -probably the two most satisfactory judged as ballet were the -production of Mr. Wilhelm’s “Camargo,” with Mlle. Génée in the -title-_rôle_; and M. Kosloff’s production of “Scheherazade,” the two -forming an outstanding contrast in one’s memory. The former, with -the quiet dignity, soft light and sumptuous stage embellishments -of furniture and _décors_, and the dream-like quality assumed by -the characters in this rich and harmonious setting. One found in it -something of that visionary quality which gave the peculiar charm -to the “Versailles” production which I spoke of in referring to the -Empire. The music and the acting were so expressive that one did not -miss the words, and yet half-consciously one knew they were not there -just because of the dream-like atmosphere which the music itself so -helped to create. - -The royal grace and dignity of Louis-Quinze, the butterfly vivacity -of Camargo herself, and the more vital and quieter actions of her -young soldier friend for whose misdeeds she pleads for pardon from -the King, were all but dream figures in a dream, and it was as if -the veil of the past had been suddenly drawn aside and one had a -glimpse of a century seen through the half light of early dawn. Once -more Mlle. Génée excelled herself in doing apparently impossible -things with consummate ease, and once more one was glad to welcome -the sensitive, expressive and scholarly work of so accomplished a -musician as Miss Dora Bright. - -There was nothing of the cool and dream-like quality, however, -about Mons. Kosloff’s “Scheherazade.” Exotic, bizarre, palpitant -with warmth and colour, the production stormed the imagination with -its extravagance of hue and tone, even as the tangled rhythms and -seductive melodies of the music captured the hearing and through it -subdued the mind to a sort of dazzled wonder. It was a stupendous -achievement, the more so in that it was brief. - -At various times and at various places we have seen in London during -the past ten years or so every form of dance and ballet it would -seem could possibly exist. “Sand” dances; “Buck” dances; “Hypnotic” -dances; “Salome” dances; “Vampire” dances; “Apache,” “Classic,” -“Viennese,” Turkish, Egyptian, Russian, “Inspirational” dancers, and -even English ballet-dancers in an all-British ballet once at the -handsome Palladium; and also at the Court and Savoy, where Stedman -staged some delightful ballets performed, under the direction of Miss -Lilian Leoffeler and Mr. Marshall Moore, by English dancers. Not only -at the regular vaudeville houses and theatres, however, is to be -found genuine appreciation of the British dance and dancer. Elsewhere -an English school of dance has been founded, and that in a form for -which the English nation was famous in Shakespeare’s time. - -Henley made his plea for “Gigues, Gavottes and Minuets,” but there -are many other lovely, or lovelier, examples of old-world dance to -old-world music, which scholarship has revived and good taste has -been eagerly accepting wherever they were seen--_Pavane_, _Chaconne_, -_Coranto_, _Galliard_, _Bourrée_, _Rigaudon_, _Passepied_, and -_Sarabande_. These, and other ancient dances, were, as we know, the -delight of the Courts of Queen Elizabeth, of Charles II, of Anne, -of Louis-Quatorze--_le Grand Monarque_, of Louis-Seize and Marie -Antoinette. Many have been revived and performed to the music of -the harpsichord, violin, viola, viole-d’amour, and ’cello; and the -curious thing--or, rather, interesting thing, for it really is not -strange--is that both to scholars and to those unlearned in their -history, to cultured townsman or woman, and to country lad and lass, -to bored frequenters of the West End drawing-room, and to those who -find only in their dreams relief from the sordidness of an East End -environment, this old-world dance and music make an instant appeal. - -I saw this put to the test once when, at a hall in the somewhat dingy -neighbourhood of Bethnal Green, a performance of the “Ancient Music -and Dances,” arranged by Miss Nellie Chaplin, was received by an -audience of East End work-people with such whole-hearted enthusiasm -that practically every item in a programme often performed in West -End drawing-rooms and at Queen’s and Albert Halls, as well as at -Liverpool and Manchester, Guildford, Oxford and elsewhere, was -encored, and several were doubly and trebly so. - -A Galliard of the seventeenth century, an Allemande by an English -composer, Robert Johnson (1540-1626), Handel’s Oboe Concerto (1734), -a Sarabande by Destouches (1672), “Lady Elizabeth Spencer’s Minuet” -performed at Blenheim in 1788--all these and other historically -interesting items were encored by the audience, not because of -their historic interest, but simply because of their joyousness and -charm; while a _bourrée_ by Mouret (1742), and the fascinating Old -English dance, “Once I loved a maiden fair” (one of a group including -“Althea,” “Lord of Carnarvon’s Jig,” and Stanes’ Morris-dance) had -to be given three times. This was all complimentary, of course, to -the beautiful way in which the dances and music were performed; but -it was an interesting revelation of the eternal appeal to humanity, -whatsoever the degree of caste or wealth, of the really good thing in -art, and certainly the centuries are bridged with ease by the charm -and joyousness of these old-time dances to their appropriate music, -seen and heard more recently and to such advantage amid congenial -environment in “Shakespeare’s England” at Earl’s Court. - -Veritably we seem to have seen every known form of dance and type of -dancer in London during the past twenty years or so, and latterly we -have had at the Royal Opera-House, and, since, at Drury Lane, such a -festival of ballet as has not been seen in England since the ’forties -of last century, for here we have seen a galaxy of dancers from the -two great opera-houses of Russia, that of the Mariensky at Petrograd, -and that of the great theatre in Moscow, where the traditional -training for ballet has been kept up and infused with a new artistic -spirit such as is hardly to be found in any other continental -opera-house. - -Early in last century Carlo Blasis brought the Milan school to -perfection, and thence went teachers to Paris, Vienna, Dresden, -Moscow, Petrograd, wherever they went carrying something of the -artistic spirit and culture of their master, one of the most -versatile _maîtres de ballet_ there has ever been, for there seems to -have been scarcely an art of which he did not know something, and of -which he could not say something worth hearing. - -But since those days probably nowhere quite as in Russia has the -ballet moved with the times and been so imbued with the new artistic -spirit which has been at work within the past generation. - -Painter, musician, poet, dramatist, and _maître de ballet_, are -called upon to produce the homogeneous and individual spectacle which -we call the Russian ballet. - -One has to recall but a few examples from the Russian _répertoire_ to -note with what serious artistic purpose the art of Ballet is studied -by the representatives of the best school. Glazounov’s “Cleopatra,” a -“mimodrame” in one act; “Les Sylphides,” a _rêverie romantique_, the -music by Chopin; Schumann’s exquisitely whimsical “Le Carnaval,” made -into a pantomime-ballet in one act; “Le Dieu Bleu,” by that curiously -interesting and _rêveur_ composer Reynaldo Hahn. These are among -the productions which, ranging over classic, poetic and romantic -subjects, would veritably have appealed to such artists of the -Ballet as Rameau, Noverre, Gardel and Blasis, not to mention other -_maîtres_ of more recent times. And what dancers to interpret them! -M. Nijinsky, perhaps the best male dancer of our time, so good that -one’s usual objection to the male dancer melted into admiration: Mme. -Karsavina, Mlles. Sophie Fedorova and Ludmilla Schollar were among -the _danseuses_ who had been seen in London previously, and were -each in their degree remarkable not only as dancers but as brilliant -mimes. There was not one among the extensive and interesting cast who -was not of Russia’s best, the best that is that can come from the -school where the traditional art of Ballet is understood not to be -the result of a mere few lessons in “dancing,” but the result of a -study also of all that is best in the traditions of art and music and -literature, from all of which the art of Ballet draws its inspiration. - -Yet again, one must pay tribute to the Russian artists on their -masterly sense of stage effect, and for that supreme sense of what -the ballet should be, namely, a harmony of the arts. One has but to -contrast three such productions as “Les Sylphides,” “Cleopatra,” and -Schumann’s “Carnaval,” to see a revelation of stage artistry which -put to shame the conventionality which, save in rare instances--and -in English ballet--had characterised the London stage so long. - -In “Les Sylphides” we had the very essence of that spirit of -romanticism in which cultured Europe was revelling during the -’twenties and the ’thirties of last century, a spirit which found -expression in depicting the wildness and grandeur of mountain -scenery, in the cloud-like fantasies of Shelley, in the poignant -intensity of Byronic passion, and the romantic glamour of Spanish and -German legend. - -In “Cleopatra” we had a glimpse of the pride and passion of an -imperious Queen, ruling over a nation whose own passions were but -subdued by tyranny, in a land where earth itself seemed satiated -with the fructifying influence of water and a burning sun. From the -first moment to the last the stage was in a glow, and a red thread of -tragedy deepened to a climax of despair. - -What a change to turn from such a production to the whimsies, romance -and fantasy of such a thing as Schumann’s “Carnaval!” Here was the -obverse of the romanticism of “Les Sylphides”; the undercurrent of -mockery and poetic cynicism so characteristic of Schumann’s own music -in its lighter moods, characteristic of Heine and of de Musset. Here -again one found a masterly idea in the audacious simplicity of the -stage setting. To see the great stage of Covent Garden decorated -with long curtains and two sofas of the truly early-Victorian -pattern--stiff, prim, unyielding, and covered with striped repp--was -a thing to take one’s breath away, until, as the music began, little -figure after little figure slipped, like figures in a dream, between -the curtains: Pierrot, Pierrette, Harlequin--little men and women of -the ’thirties mingling with these eternal characters of drama, to -make a series of pictures of wooings and repulses, of meetings and -partings, of provocations and denials, revealing the comedy of life, -seen as it were in a glass “not darkly,” but as a dream far off and -mistily; eminently unreal; yet, in some other world far, far away, -in some mysterious land of dreams, one felt such things perchance -might be. - -“Le Sacre du Printemps” was an ambitious attempt at primitivism--if -one may use the word--but while disliking its suggestion of -megalomania and the formlessness of its decoration, one could not -but admire so audacious an endeavour to break wholly with tradition; -and it was redeemed by the virility and fantastic, mocking humour -and scenic splendour of Rimsky-Korsakov and Michel Fokine’s “Le Coq -d’Or,” and still more by the beauty of Leon Bakst and Tcherepinin’s -“Narcisse,” and the poetic charm of “Le Spectre de la Rose.” - -These, however, are but brief impressions of recent pleasures, shared -by many others who may have been differently impressed. We have had -many books and articles on the Russian ballet--some perhaps a little -over-enthusiastic--and it is not my purpose to deal extensively with -history so recent that most readers can as readily give account -thereof. - -When all is said, the significant fact remaining is--that at this -end of the history of an art some two thousand years old we find -most recently in popular favour not English ballet as it was in the -sixteenth-century days of the essentially English Masque; not French -as it was in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; not Italian, -as it was in the ’forties of last century; nor English as we have -seen it, at its best, at the Empire and Alhambra in the past quarter -of a century; but the Russian ballet! the balance of the arts; -which the Russians have only been able to do _by sheer technical -efficiency_--quite apart from ideas or ideals expressed--in _all_ -the arts of which ballet is composed, and which has enabled them to -do exactly that which they have set out to do. That, perhaps, is the -one thing that Russian ballet has shown us, which is of the greatest -value and significance for any lovers of the art in any capital of -the world. - -[Illustration: - - _E. O. Hoppé_ - -Mme. Karsavina and M. Adolf Bolm in “L’Oiseau de Feu”] - -One may ask, however, what is the position of England in regard not -only to ballet, but to the other arts? We have State, and County -Council Art and Craft schools; we have the Royal Academy of Music, -the Royal College, the Guildhall School, and numerous private schools -and “academies” where music and the dramatic arts are taught; all -admirable as far as they go. We have, as yet, no State-aided theatre -and no State-aided opera-house, to which, as on the Continent, an -academy for the study of the dance and ballet is attached. Is it not -strange that the richest city in the world should be deficient in -these things? - -It may be that there is greater vitality in the arts when they are -pursued only under the conditions of competitive, private enterprise; -but it is curious that in practically every other country the -dramatic arts have been fostered by the State, and that we in this -country seem ever to show a greater welcome to foreign singers and -dancers than we do to our own. - -There is, of course, always a great danger that an institution, -secure in the support it receives from the State, may become -conventional; the spirit of its art may grow arid and unprofitable, -but at least it ensures a standard of technical efficiency, and, if -there be a vital spirit in the nation, that spirit will show itself -in the work of such an institution. Russia has proved all this. - -Given a National Opera-House, to which were attached a Royal Academy -of Dancing, what might the future of Ballet be in this country? - -The answer depends mainly, one feels, on the extent of the -possibilities to which the art of Ballet could be realised by those -who lead in the artistic expression of the national spirit. The poet, -the artist, the musician, the Master of Dance, and the dancers--men -and women--realising the possibilities of the composite art of -Ballet, might foreshadow possibilities greater than any we have -seen. Yet greater possibilities might be foreshadowed of one who was -all these things; and could combine (as Mr. Gordon Craig would have -the master of the Art of the Theatre combine) _all_ the arts of the -theatre. - -It would seem that now and then, through lack of technical efficiency -in one or other of the arts which go to the making of ballet, that -ballet itself has not always attained its highest possible level in -England. - -But without that basic technical efficiency in the living material -which he manipulates, how can the creator of the ballet express -himself? A standard of technique at least should exist. That given, -what might not yet be done with this art, which history shows -has always been so plastic in the hands of the master-artist, so -responsive to the artistic or national moods of the people among whom -it has been found. - -It has the value and significance of painting, together with the -vital and impressive effect of drama. It is not the art of depicting -reality; but the art of pictorial suggestion, giving life and form to -poetic ideas. - -At the Royal or Ducal Courts of earlier days the compliment to -monarch or to minister would be conveyed by means of a courtly -ballet, the story of which dealt outwardly perhaps only with the -doings of some mythic hero of the classic past. But the art of Ballet -always had greater possibilities than courtly compliment, in that it -is always a plastic vehicle for the expression of all ideas; and, -given the standard of efficiency which makes production possible -at all, it only becomes a question of what theme shall be treated -by this means rather than by the arts of painting, or of music, or -drama, or of literature. - -On these two points--the standard of technical efficiency attained -by those associated in the production of ballet, and on the choice -of theme and manner of treatment by the artist-mind ultimately -responsible for the production, depends the whole future of the art -of Ballet. The spirit of the artist and his means of expression; -there lies the future. - -What shall be the technique of ballet, and to what extent shall it be -influenced by that of the dance? - -To-day, the forms of dancing are various, but there are three main -divisions: first, all popular forms of “step,” or, to adopt an old -and useful term, “toe-and-heel” dancing; secondly, the traditional -“toe”-dancing of classic ballet, capable of every _nuance_ of -expression; and thirdly, the various forms of rhythmic movement -and effects of poise, which seem to approach nearly to the ancient -Hellenic ideal of the Dance, and of which Miss Isadora Duncan was -perhaps the first exponent in England, as Mrs. Roger Watts is the -latest; while yet another phase of the same ideal is seen in the -Eurhythmic system of Jacques Dalcroze, which has had, and will have, -great influence in many directions. - -We have seen on the London stage ballets in which the dancing was -almost wholly “step”-dancing, toe-and-heel--such as “On the Heath,” -at the Alhambra; we have seen numberless ballets in which the -traditional “toe”-dancing was paramount, from “Coppélia” to “Roberto -il Diavolo,” or the later productions of the Russians; we have not -yet seen a ballet composed entirely, or even mainly on the lines of -the Hellenic revival, though we have had hints of it in concerted -dances by pupils of Miss Duncan and others, and the complete thing -may yet come, though, personally, I question the advisability. We -have already had some curious, interesting, and not quite illogical -attempts to suggest scenic effect by means of living people -performing appropriate and rhythmic movements, as in the production -of Mr. Reginald Buckley’s poetic drama “King Arthur.” - -In one or other of these three divisions of the dance and the -respective technical advance in each, lie the chief means of artistic -expression for the master of ballet in the future, and it may be that -the traditional “ballet”-dancing, with its marvellous flexibility -of expression, will, so long as the present standard of technique -is sustained, always maintain its supremacy over the purely popular -forms of dancing, and the newer modes of rhythmic movement and -gesture. It has at least stood the test of time, as a definite and -logical medium of artistic expression. - -As to the master-mind that is to select one or other of these forms -of the Dance, and combine it with miming, music and scenic effect to -achieve a ballet that shall be the medium of ideas, worthy to range -as a work of art alongside the tried masterpieces of painting, music, -drama or literature, it may be questioned if we shall see anything -worthier than the past has given us at its best. Some new Noverre or -Blasis, Wilhelm or Fokine may yet arise, of course; but until such -a one come forth we may be well content with the standard which the -Past has managed to achieve. - -To that standard this volume is a willing tribute; a faithful -record, which may have novelty for some, unaware of days before -their time; while for others, whose memory of more recent--but yet -receding!--events, grows dim, it may come as a friendly reminder of -pleasant hours spent, by writer and by reader, in contemplating from -the auditorium the varied examples seen at London theatres of the -protean Art of Ballet. - - - THE END - - - - - INDEX - - - Adam, Adolphe, composer, 236, 277 - - Addison, Joseph, 142-147 - - Ænea, dancer, 259, 279 - - Æschylus, 25, 37 - - Agoust, Louise, dancer, 264 - - Aguzzi, Mlle., dancer, 276 - - Albert, Ferdinand, dancer, 209 - - Albert, Paul, dancer, 209 - - Albertieri, Luigi, dancer, 279, 280 - - Albery, James, dramatist, 257 - - Alembert, Jean le Rond d’, 171 - - Alençon, Emilienne d’, dancer, 266 - - Alexander, Appius, 85 - - Alhambra, 249, 252-275, 308 - - Alias, M. et Mme., costumiers, 257, 259, 260, 264, 265, 271-273, 276 - - Allan, Maud, dancer, 274, 310 - - Allard, Marie, actress and dancer, 168, 203 - - Allemande (Almain) dance, 68, 74, 115; - by Robert Johnson, 317 - - Almonti, brothers, dancers, 262, 263, 265 - - Anderson, Percy, designer of costumes, 279 - - André, dancer, 109 - - Angiolini, pupil of Noverre, 213 - - Anka, Cornélie d’, singer, 255, 257 - - Arbeau, Thoinot, author of _Orchésographie_, 1588, 60-70, 110, - 145 - - Arlequin. _See_ Harlequin - - Arnould, Sophie, dancer, 179, 180 - - Arundale, Grace, dancer, 265 - - Arundale, Sybil, dancer, 265 - - _Atellanæ_, 43 - - Athenæus, quoted, 23 - - Auber, D. F. E., composer, 253 - - Audran, engraver, 132, 134 - - Augier, Anne Catherine, married Auguste Vestris, 169, 170 - - Austin, Esther, dancer, 253 - - - Baif, author, 51 - - Bakst, Leon, ballet producer, 321 - - Ballard, French printer, 139 - - Ballet Comique de la Royne, 56-60, 70-73 - - Ballet-ambulatoire, 83, 87 - Beatification of Ignatius Loyola, 83 - Canonisation of S. Charles Boromée, 85 - - Ballet in England from early 18th century, largely imported from - France and Italy, 182 - new spirit infused in first half of 19th century, 208 - of small artistic value from 1850-1870, 250 - revival as London institution at Alhambra and Empire, 251, 308 - all British ballet, 316 - no State-aided training, 322 - Heroic; - eighty given in France from 1589-1610, 88 - Pantomime, 114 - Russian, 308, 321; - given first at Coliseum, 313; - at Covent Garden, 318; - at Drury Lane, 318; - dancers from the Mariensky, Petrograd, and from Opera House, - Moscow, 318 - Savoy, Court of, 89-91 - - Ballets: - Acis and Galatea, 208 - Aladdin, 261 - Veil of Diamonds, 261 - Alaska, 285 - Alchemists, of, 96 - Alcibiade, 101 - Algeria, 260 - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, 264 - All the Year Round, 269 - Alma, 241 - Amour, Malade l’, 101 - Amour Vengé, l’, 208 - Amours Déguisés, les, 101 - Antiope, 260 - Asmodeus, 260 - Astrea, 260 - Automne Bacchanale, l’, 217, 311 - Babil et Bijou, 259 - Bacchus et Ariane, 152 - Baigneuse, la, 308 - Bayadères, les, 225 - Beatrix, 238 - Beauties of the Harem, 254 - Beauty and the Beast, 264 - Belle au Bois Dormant, 226 - Belle of the Ball, 292, 294, 295 - Bivouac, the, 260 - Bluebeard, 264 - Britannia’s Realm, 267 - Pas des Patineurs, 267 - Bugle Call, the, 289 - By the Sea, 281 - Cadmus, 111 - Caractères de la Danse, 157, 180 - Camargo, 316 - Carmen, 258, 268, 275 - Carnaval (Schumann), 320, 321 - Carnaval de Venise, le, 225, 244, 258 - Cassandra, 99 - Castor and Pollux, 217 - Cécile, 280 - Chercheuse d’Esprit, la, 181, 185 - Chicago, 262 - Chinois, 171 - Cinderella, 289 - Cinq Seul, le, 244 - Cinquantaine, 169 - Cleopatra, 280 - Cleopatra (Glazounov), 320, 321 - Cloches de Corneville, les, 273 - Colour of Life, the (dance-_scena_), 315 - Coppélia, 277 - Coppélia (Delibes), 290, 295, 296, 298, 325 - Coq d’Or, le, 321 - Cupid, 260 - Cupid in Arcadia (Comic), 254 - Dance Dream, the, 275 - Dancing Doll, the, 289 - Dancing Master, the, 301 - Danse, la, 282, 316 - Day in Paris, 298, 299 - Day Off, a, 265 - Débutante, the, 291, 296, 301 - Débutante, the, new edition, 305 - Demon’s Bride, the, 254 - Devil’s Forge, the, 267 - Diable au Violon, le, 243 - Diana, 279 - Dieu Bleu, le, 319 - Dilara, 279 - Don Juan, 217 - Don Quixote, 262 - Dream of Wealth, 280 - Dryad, the, 296-298 - Duel in the Snow, 280 - Enchantment, 260 - Endymion, 169 - Entente Cordiale, the, 270 - Eoline, 245 - Europe, 306 - Excelsior, 251 - Fairies’ Home, the, 255 - Fantaisie Chorégraphique, 301 - Faun, the, 302 - Faust, 282 - Femina, 275 - Fernando Cortez, 217, 225 - Fête Galante, la, 290 - Fêtes d’Adam, les, 182 - Fêtes de Bacchus et de l’Amour, 104, 109, 111 - Fêtes d’Hébé, les, 185 - Fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour, 181 - Fêtes Vénitiennes, les (opera ballet), 138, 139 - Fidelia (le Violon du Diable), 262 - Filets de Vulcain, les, 227 - Fille du Bandit, la, 245 - Fille du Danube, la, 238 - Fille de Marbre, la, 242 - First Love, 304 - Flora, 99 - Flore et Zephire, 208, 226, 227 - Gardes Françaises, les, 256 - Gay City, the, 266 - Gemma, 243 - Giselle, 236, 238, 277 - Gitana, la, 231 - Golden Wreath, 257 - Gretna Green, 266 - Handy Man, the, 266 - Happy Shipwreck, the, 208 - Hertha, 244 - Horoscope, the, 240 - Hungary, 253 - Hurly Burly, 277 - Hvika, 250 - Ideala, 260 - Impatience, l’, 101 - Inspiration, 266 - Iphigénie en Aulide, 217 - Irene, 260 - Jack Ashore, 265 - Japan, in, 266 - Jugement de Pâris, le, 231, 245 - Pas des Déesses, 246 - Lac des Fées, 241 - Laura and Lenze, 208 - Lydie, 226 - Médée et Jason, 201 - Melusine, 260 - Memnon, 259 - Milliner Duchess, the, 288, 296 - Mirza, 185 - Monte Cristo, 282 - Mountain Sylph, 254 - Mystères d’Isis, les, 217 - Nadia, 260 - Napoli, 266 - Narcisse, 321 - Nations, Les, Parisian Quadrille, 253 - New York, 303 - Nina the Enchantress, 260 - Ninette à la Cour, 185 - Nisita, 281 - Old China, 287 - Ondine, 241, 242 - On the Square, 274 - Or, Le Coq d’, 322 - Orfeo, 281 - Oriella, 261 - Our Army and Navy, 260 - Our Crown, 287 - Palace of Pearl, 277 - Papillons, les, 286 - Paquita (Grisi), 239 - Paquita (Alhambra), 274 - Paris Exhibition, 280 - Parisiana, 271 - Peri, the, 237, 238 - Perseus, 111 - Plaisirs, les, 101 - Polly, 277 - Premier, Navigateur, le, 185, 186 - Press, the, 284 - Printemps, Le Sacre du, 322 - Psyche (1787), 202 - Psyche (Alhambra), 275 - Puella, 254 - Pygmalion, 152 - Queen of Spades, 271, 272 - Raillerie, la, 101 - Reaper’s Dream, the, 304 - Réception d’une jeune nymphe à la cour de Terpsichore, 225 - Red Shoes, the, 265 - Rip van Winkle, 264 - Roberto il Diavolo, 300, 325 - Robert Macaire, 280 - Rose d’Amour, 279 - Rose de Séville, 250 - Rosière, la, 185 - Round the Town, 281 - Round the Town Again, 286 - Round the World, 300 - Sacre du Printemps, le, 320 - Salandra, 260 - Sal! Oh My! 274 - Sappho and Phaon, 208 - Scheherazade, 316 - Seaside, 286 - Seasons, the, 260 - Ship Ahoy! 302 - Sicilien, le, 225 - Sioux, the (comic), 261 - Sir Roger de Coverley, 292 - Sleeping Beauty, 261 - Soldiers of the Queen, 266 - Spectresheim, 254 - Spectre de la Rose, le, 321 - Sports of England, 279 - Swans, the, 260 - Sylph of the Glen, 254 - Sylphide, 224, 227, 228, 236, 238, 241, 244, 296, 315 - Sylphides, les, 320, 321 - Sylvia, 277, 303 - Télémaque, 202 - Temps, le, 101 - Temps de la Paix, le 112 - Temptation, 261 - Titania, 304 - Tobacco, of (1650), 97 - Tribulations d’un Maître de Ballet, 231 - Triomphe de l’Amour, 111 - Triumph of Bacchus, 101 - Triumph of Venus, 100 - Two Flags, the, 273 - Two Gregorys, the, 254 - Under One Flag, 282 - Versailles, 281, 316 - Vestale, la, 217, 225 - Victoria and Merrie England, 264 - Village Festival, 260 - Vincennes, 101 - Vineland, 288 - Vine, The, 306 - Vivandière, la, 243 - Water Nymph, the, 304 - Wildfire, 256 - Yolande, 225 - Zanetta, 260 - Zephyre, 203 - - Ballon, M., dancer, 106, 110, 115, 123 - - Baltasarini. _See_ Beaujoyeux - - Banquet-ball, 53-55, 71 - - Baron, author, 61 - - Basse-dance, 63-66 - - Bathyllus, Roman actor, 44-46, 114, 119 - - Baudiery-Laval, maître de ballet, 106, 110 - - Baudiery-Laval, Michel-Jean, dancer, 106, 110 - - Baum, John, manager Alhambra, 254 - - Beauchamps, dancer, 62, 106, 109-111, 164 - - Beaujoyeux (Baltasarini), designer of Ballet Comique de la Reine, - 1581, 56-60, 70-73, 82 - - Beaumont, Francis, dramatist, 74 - - Beaupré, Mlle., dancer, 203 - - Bedells, Phyllis, dancer, 292, 299-305, 306 - - Belloni, actor, famed as Pierrot, 133 - - Beni Hassan, 29, 31 - - Benserade, arranged ballet of “Cassandra” in which Louis XIV - appeared, 99 - - Benson, F. R., 313 - - Bensusan, S. L., adapted ballet from his novel, _Dede_, 266 - - Berein, Francis, theatrical mechanician, 111 - - Berend, Rosa, actress, 259 - - Bergonzio di Botta, arranged the Banquet-ball, 1489, 52-56, 71, 82 - - Bertin, Antoine, author, 139 - - Bertrand, A., ballet master, 255-258, 276 - - Bessone, Mlle., dancer, 260 - - Bianchini, designer, 276 - - Biancolelli, Pierre-François (Domenique), actor, famed as Arlequin, - 133, 134 - - Bias, Fanny, dancer, 203 - - Bigottini, Mlle., dancer, 203, 204 - - Bishop, Will, dancer, 282, 286 - - Blande, Edith, actress, 259 - - Blasis, Carlo, actor, dancer, writer, and Director of Imperial - Academy of Dancing and Pantomime at Milan, 23, 24, 148, - 213-220, 222, 272, 319, 320 - - Blasis, Francesco, 214 - - Blasis, Teresa, sister of Carlo, 218 - - Blasis, Vincenza Coluzzi Zurla, 214 - - Blasis, Virginia, sister of Carlo, prima donna, 218 - - Blaze, Castil, writer on Paris Opera, 72, 111, 172; - quoted, 228 - - Blondi, dancer, 106, 110, 158 - - Boileau, Nicolas, Sieur Despréaux, 196, 200 - - Bolm, Adolphe, dancer, 296, 299, 301 - - Bonnet, author, 61 - - Bordin, Maria, dancer, 272, 273 - - Bouffon, dance, 63, 74 - - Bourgeois, composer, 113 - - Bourrée, dance, 318 - - Brancher, Mlle., dancer, 203 - - Branle (bransle) dance, 63, 64, 68, 69 - - Bright, Dora, composer, 296, 302, 315, 317 - - Brissac, Duc de, 56 - - Britta, Mlle., dancer, 274, 275 - - Brocard, Mlle., dancer, 209, 228 - - Broughton, Phyllis, dancer and actress, 249, 295 - - Browne, William, poet, 74 - - Brutton, W. M., architect, 271 - - Buckley, Reginald, 325 - - Bunn, manager Drury Lane, 238 - - Byng, G. W., musical director Alhambra, 265-268, 272-274 - - - Cachucha, dance, 212 - - Calthrop, Dion Clayton, 275 - - Calverley, C. S., translation quoted, 34 - - Camargo, Marie-Anne de Cupis de, dancer, 115-117, 156-162, 223 - - Cambert, musician, 104, 113 - - Campion, Thomas, poet and musician, 74 - - Campra, composer, 113, 128, 138, 305 - - Canaries (Canary), dance, 69, 74 - - Canova, sculptor, 216 - - Canterbury Music Hall, 249 - - Captain, The, conventional character of 18th century Italian comedy, - 121, 122 - - Caroso, author, 62 - - Carr, Osmond, Dr., 292 - - Carville, Mlle., dancer, 106 - - Casaboni, Josephine, dancer, 264-266 - - Casati, M., ballet master, 260 - - Cavallazi, Malvina, Mme., dancer, 258, 280, 281, 282, 285 - - Cave, Joseph A., manager Alhambra 254 - - Cecchetti, M., dancer, 279, 281 - - Celerier, director of Opera, 191 - - Cerito, Fanny, dancer, 223, 229, 231, 240-243, 245-247, 278 - - Cerri, Cecilia, dancer, 264, 265 - - Chaconne, dance, 71, 115, 166, 317 - - Chambers, Emma, actress, 255, 258, 259 - - Chameroy, Mlle., dancer, 203 - - Chaplin, Nellie, reviver of ancient music and dances, 318 - - Chapman, George, dramatist, 74 - - Chevigny, Mlle., dancer, 202, 203 - - Choiseul, de, Archbishop of Cambrai, 183 - - Choiseul, Maréchal de, 106 - - Cibber, Colley, quoted, 17 - - Cinthio, character in French pantomime, 126 - - Clarke, Cuthbert, composer, 298, 302 - - Cleather, Gordon, singer, 297 - - Clerc, Elise, dancer and ballet producer, 274, 289 - - Clermont, College of, ballets at, 93 - - Clotilde, Mlle., dancer, 203 - - Clown, 121, 123 - - Cochin, C. N., engraver, 131 - - Coffin, Hayden, actor, 277 - - Coliseum, 313 - - Collette, Charles, actor, 258 - - Collier, Beatrice, dancer, 299, 303 - - Collins, Lottie, dancer, 309 - - Colonna, Mlle., dancer, 253 - - Columbine, conventional character of 18th century Italian comedy, - 122, 123, 126 - - Comedie Ballet, 73 - - Comelli, designer of costume, 271-273 - - Constantini, Angelo, actor, famous impersonator of Mezzetin, 134 - - Contredanse, 115 - - Cook, Aynsley, actor, 257, 258 - - Cook, Furneaux, actor, 258 - - Coppi, Carlo, ballet producer, 24, 261, 264, 266, 267 - - Cormani, Mme., dances arranged by, 260, 266, 267 - - Cormani, Miss, dancer, 271 - - Corneille, Pierre, author, 115, 123 - - Costa, Mario, composer, 272 - - Coulon, Mlle., dancer, 203 - - Coulon, M., dancer, 225 - - Courante (Coranto) dance, 63, 67, 68, 81, 115, 317 - - Covent Garden Theatre, 152, 295, 308 - - Cracovienne, dance, 212 - - Craig, Gordon, 315, 324 - - Craske, Dorothy, dancer, 289, 290 - - Crozat, patron of Watteau, 132, 138 - - Crystal Palace, 249 - - Curti, Alfredo, ballet master, 24, 271, 272, 273, 275 - - - Dalcroze, Jacques, 325 - - Dallas, John J., actor, 257 - - Dance, older than drama, 26 - early instinct of mankind, 27 - ritual of, in Egypt, 28 - sacred, secular, theatrical, 28, 40 - in Greece, 31-40 - in Greek drama: _Emmeleia_, _Hyporchemata_, - _Kordax_, _Sikinnis_, 37, 63 - Pyrrhic, 38 - in honour of Jupiter, of Minerva, of Apollo, of Innocence to - Diana, of Delos to Venus, 38 - in Eleusinian mysteries, 39 - Collar, 39 - individualistic, 39 - - Dancing, value of personality in, 283 - - Daniel, Samuel, poet, 74 - - Dauberval, dancer, 166, 180, 202, 203, 216 - - Dauberval, Mme. (_née_ Mlle. Theodore), dancer, 203 - - Davenant, Sir William, 304 - - David, G. Mlle., dancer, 257 - - David, Jacques Louis, painter, 182 - - Davies, Sir John, author of _Orchestra, or a Poeme on - Dauncing_, 67 - - Dekker, Thomas, dramatist, 74 - - Delaborde, financier, 183 - - Delaplace, actor, played Scaramouche, 134 - - de la Roque, Antoine, 138; - librettist of “Médée et Jason,” 138 - - Delibes, composer, 277, 290, 298, 303 - - Dervieux, Mlle., dancer, 185 - - Desaix, M., dancer, 106 - - Deshayes, M., dancer and producer of ballet, 203, 208, 241 - - Desmarets, composer, 113 - - Desmares, Mlle., Danish actress, 135 - - Desmatins, Mlle., dancer, 111 - - Desnos, Bishop of Verdun, 183 - - Despréaux, Jean, dancer and poet, 190-201 - - Destouches, composer, 113, 317 - - Didelot, M., ballet master, 203, 208, 226 - - Diderot, Denis, encyclopædist, 171 - - Doctor, The, conventional character of 18th-century Italian comedy, - 121, 122, 126, 134 - - Dolaro, Selina, actress and dancer, 256 - - Dolivet, M., dancer, 111 - - Dorat, poet, 171, 185 - - Dorival, Mlle., dancer, 187 - - Dowsett, Vernon, stage manager Alhambra, 260 - - Drama, early, 25-29 - - Drury Lane Theatre, 142, 237, 295, 308 - - Dryden, Alexander, 304 - - Dumoulin, M., dancer, 116, 158 - - Duncan, Isadora, 153, 310, 313, 314, 325 - - Duport, M., dancer, 203 - - Dupré, Louis Pierre, dancer, 110, 116, 164, 203 - - Duverney, Pauline, dancer, 209, 210, 292 - - - Edelinck, engraver, 134 - - Edwardes, George, theatre manager, 277, 281, 284 - - Egville, d’, M., producer of ballet, 208 - - Elia, Mlle., dancer, 261 - - Elliots, the, family of dancers, 254 - - Elssler, Fanny, dancer, 210-212, 248, 278, 292 - - Elssler, Thérèse, sister of above, dancer, 210-212 - - Emmanuel, _La Danse Grecque_, 35 - - Empire Theatre, 252, 276, 294-308 - closed, October 27 to November 2, 1893, by County Council, 282 - - Espinosa, ballet producer, 249 - - Espinosa, Edouard, dancer, actor and producer, 305 - - Espinosa, Judith, dancer, 266 - - Eularia, character in French pantomime, 126 - - Euripides, 25 - - - Fabbri, dancer, 249 - - Fairs, Theatres of the, 109, 128-130, 132, 133 - St. Germain, February to Easter, 128, 133 - St. Laurent, June to October, 128, 133, 140, 150 - - Falcon, Mme., singer, 244 - - Fandango, dance, 212 - - Farinis, the, gymnasts, 253 - - Farnie, H. B., librettist, 256, 258, 276 - - Farren, Fred, dancer, actor and producer, 266, 289, 290, 299-304, - 306 - - Faustin, designer of costumes, 258, 276 - - Favart, Mme., dancer, 181 - - Favier, M., dancer, 109 - - Fedorova, Sophie, dancer, 320 - - Fernon, Mlle., dancer, 111 - - Ferrabosco, Alfonso, composer, 76 - - Ferraris, Amalia, dancer, 249 - - Ferté, de la, M., Director de l’Académie, 187, 188 - - Feuillet, ballet master, 62, 106 - - Fleming, Noel, actor, 300 - - Fletcher, John, dramatist, 74 - - Fokine, Michel, ballet producer, 24, 322, 326 - - Fontanes, President of the French Legislative Chamber, 204 - - Ford, A. G., stage manager Alhambra, 262 - - Ford, Bert, dancer, 301 - - Ford, Ernest, composer, 282 - - Foucarts, the, gymnasts, 253 - - Fouquet, Comptroller of Finances, 99 - - Fragonard, 125, 181, 290 - - Francine, a director of Royal Academy of Dance and Music, Paris, 157 - - Francoeur, director of Opera, 19 - - Fuller, Loie, dancer, 312 - - Fuseli, Henry, painter, 214 - - - Gaillarde (_cinq-pas_), dance, 63, 66, 81, 317 - - Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, 53, 54 - - Gallini, director of Opera in London, 187, 188 - - Ganne, Louis, composer, 266 - - Gantenberg, Edvige, dancer, 286 - - Gardel, Maximilien, maître de ballet, 23, 172, 181, 217, 320 - - Gardel, Pierre, brother of above, 201, 202 - - Garrick, David, 165, 171, 214, 308 - - Gascoigne, George, poet and dramatist, 74 - - Gautier, Théophile, 24, quoted 227, 236, quoted 237, 243 - - Gavotte, 63, 69, 161, 317 - - Geltzer, Catrina, dancer, 275 - - Génée, Adeline, 119, 220; - début in London, 283, 284-298, 300, 316 - - Génée, Alexandre, uncle to Adeline, 284, 300 - - Gersaint, correspondent of Watteau, 138 - - Gherardi, Evariste, quoted, 122 - - Gigue, dance, 115, 317 - - Giles, Thomas, dance-master, 76, 81 - - Gillert, Mlle. T. de, mime, 255-259 - - Gilles. _See_ Pierrot - - Gillot, Claude, engraver, 126, 127, 137 - - Gilmer, Albert A., manager Alhambra, 262 - - Giuri, Mlle., dancer, 280 - - Glazounov, composer, 318 - - Glover, James W., composer, 271 - - Gluck, Christoph, composer, 172, 201 - - Goncourt, Edmond, 179, 187, 196 - - Goncourts, de, 138 - - Gorsky, Alexander A., ballet producer, 275 - - Gosselin, Mlle., dancer, “the boneless,” 203, 217 - - Grahn, Lucile, dancer, 223, 229, 231, 244-248 - - Granville, Violet, actress, 258 - - Gregory, Nazianzen, quoted, 49 - - Grétry, composer, 201 - - Greville, Eva, dancer, 250 - - Grey, Miss Lennox, singer and actress, 256 - - Grey, Sylvia, dancer, 251, 295 - - Grigolati troupe, 263 - - Grimaldi, 42 - - Grisi, Carlotta, 119, 164, 223, 229, 231, 235-239 - - Grisi, Giuditta, singer, cousin of Carlotta, 235 - - Grisi, Giulia, singer, cousin of Carlotta, 235 - - Gueméné, Prince de, 186 - - Guerrero, Mme., dancer, 268 - - Guimard, Madeleine, dancer, “le squelette des Grâces,” 179-195, 199, - 201, 202, 233 - - - Haggard, Sir Rider, ballet founded on his _Cleopatra_, 280 - - Hahn, Reynaldo, composer, 320 - - Hall, Edward, chronicler, 72 - - Hamoche, actor, famed as Pierrot, 133 - - Handel, George F., composed “Terpsichore” for Mlle. Sallé, 153 - - Hardouin, dancer, 112 - - Harlequin, 122, 123, 126, 133 - - Harlequinade, 41, 123 - - Harris, Sir Augustus, theatre manager, 277 - - Hastings, Charles, quoted, 43 - - Hawthorne, Ethel, dancer, 264 - - Haymarket Theatre (King’s), 151, 218 - - Heberlé, Mlle., dancer, 235 - - Heinel, Mme., dancer, wife of Gaetan Vestris, 168, 187 - - Henley, W. H., poet, 316 - - Henry, M., dancer, 203 - - Hermitage, the, Petrograd, 135 - - Herne, Hieronimus, dance master, 76 - - Herodotus, 30 - - Hersee, H., 276 - - Hertford House, 133, 135-137, 161 - - Hervé, composer, 276, 279, 280 - - Hilligsberg, Mme., 208 - - Hippodrome, 311 - - Hitchins, H. J., manager Empire, 276, 277, 298 - - Hofschuller, Fräulein, dancer, 276 - - Holland, William, manager Alhambra, 259 - - Hollingshead, John, 252, 253, 261, 276 - - Hooten, Miss, dancer, 262, 263 - - Howell, James, business manager Alhambra, 265 - - Hylas, roman actor, 45, 46 - - - Iliad, quotation from Book xviii, 32 - - Isabella of Aragon, 53, 54 - - Isabelle, conventional character of 18th-century Italian comedy, - 122, 126 - - Italian comedians in Paris, 125, 129, 137 - early troupe in 1576, _Gli Gelosi_, 126 - Fiorelli’s Royal troupe, Palais Royal, 126 - banished from France, 1679-1716, 127 - at Theatres of the Fairs, 128, 129 - troupes of Mme. Jeanne Godefroy, Von der Beck, of Christopher - Selles, of Louis Nivelon, of St. Edmé, of Constantini - (known as Octave), 129, 133, 134 - - - Jacobi, G., composer, 255, 257, 258, 260, 261, 263, 264 - - Jarente, de, Bishop of Orleans, 183 - - Johnson, Robert, composer, 318 - - Jones, Inigo, 76 - - Jones, Sidney, composer, 289 - - Jonson, Ben, 74, 81, 82 - - Josset, Mlle. M. A., dancer, 256 - - Joukoff, Leonid, dancer, 305 - - Joyeuse, Duc de, 56 - - Julian the Apostate, 49 - - Julie, Mlle., dancer, 259 - - Jullienne collection of engravings after Watteau, 125, 126, 131, 135 - - Justinian, Emperor, 48 - - - Karina, Mme., dancer, 315 - - Karsavina, Mme., 119, 220, 315, 320 - - “King Arthur,” poetic drama, 324 - - Kiralfy, Imre, 253 - - Kiralfy, Bolossy, 253 - - Kiralfy, Aniola, 253 - - Kosloff, M., ballet producer, 316 - - Kyasht, Lydia, dancer, 296, 298-305, 314 - - - Laborie, M., dancer, 203 - - La Bruyère, quoted, 105-106, 109 - - Lafontaine, Mlle., dancer, 111 - - La Malaguenita, dancer, 275 - - Lancret, Nicholas, painter, Louis XIV., 112, 125, 154, 156, 161, 290 - - Lanner, Katti, Mme., maîtresse de ballet, 24, 226, 250, 259, - 278-282, 308 - her National School of Dancing, 278 - - Lanner, Joseph, waltz composer, 278 - - Lany, M., dancer, 203 - - Lapierre, dancer, 109 - - Laporte, 208 - - La Salmoiraghi, dancer, 262 - - Lau, Comtesse de, 189 - - Lauri family, dancers, 254, 261 - - Laverne, Pattie, singer, 256 - - Lawton, Frank, whistler, 274, 286 - - Leandre, conventional character of 18th-century Italian comedy, 122 - - Le Basque, dancer, 106 - - Le Breton, Mlle., dancer, 106 - - Lecocq, composer, 258 - - Ledoux, architect, 182 - - Lee, Miss Rose, actress, 257 - - Le Fré, Albert, dancer, 265 - - Legallois, Mlle., dancer, 217 - - Legnani, Mlle., dancer, 260, 262 - - Leigh, Henry S., dramatist, 257, 258 - - Leoffeler, Miss L., dance-mistress and producer, 317 - - Lenoir, architect, 202 - - Léo, composer, 277 - - Leon, Virginia, dancer, 217 - - Leonora, La Belle, dancer, 274, 275 - - Leotard, gymnast, 252, 253 - - Le Peintre, Mlle., dancer, 111 - - Lepicq, M., dancer, 203 - - Leroux, Pauline, dancer, 210, 228, 292 - - Le Sage, Alain, 150 - - Leslie, Fanny, actress, 259 - - Leslie, Fred, actor, 258, 259 - - L’Etang, M., dancer, 111 - - Lethbridge, Alice, dancer, 251, 295 - - _Lettres sur la Danse, et sur les Ballets_, by Noverre, - published 1760, English translation 1786, 173; - quoted, 174-178 - - Levey, Florence, dancer, 250 - - Ligne, Prince and Princesse de, 157 - - Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre, (Duke’s), 123, 142, 150, 151, 304 - - Lind, Jenny, singer, 248 - - Lind, Letty, dancer, 251, 295 - - Locke, John, author, 114 - - Longhi, Giuseppe, engraver, 216 - - Longus, vintage dance in his novel _Daphnis and Chloe_, 37 - - Loseby, Constance, actress, 258, 259 - - Lovati, Mlle., dancer, 264 - - Love, Mabel, dancer, 295 - - Lucian, quoted, 23, 34, 39, 147 - - Lulli, Jean-Baptiste, composer, 104, 110, 113, 128, 138, 305 - - Lumley, manager of the Opera (Her Majesty’s), 223, 308 - - Luna, Mlle., dancer, 277 - - Lutz, Meyer, musician, 282 - - Lycurgus, 38 - - - McCleery, R. C., scenic artist, 307 - - Maccus, prototype of Punch, 43, 121 - - Machiavelli, 215 - - Madrolle, French publicist, 214 - - Maine, Duchesse du, 114, 115, 122 - - Majiltons, acrobatic dancers, 254 - - Malibran, Maria, singer, 235 - - Malter, the brothers, dancers, 203 - - “Maneros,” 30 - - Manzotti, ballet producer, 24, 251 - - Mapleson, manager Covent Garden, 250 - - Marguerite of Lorraine, 56 - - Maria la Belle, Mlle., dancer, 271 - - Marie, Mlle., dancer, 262 - - Marie Antoinette, Queen, 173, 316 - - Marinette, character in French pantomime, 126 - - Marius, M., actor, 277 - - Marmontel, Jean François, writer, 184 - - Martell, F., Miss, dancer, 304 - - Martinetti, Paul, ballet producer, 280 - - Marvin, Fred, actor, 259 - - Mask first discarded by Gaetan Vestris in dancing, 167 - - Masque, 60, 72, 73, 82, 87 - list of notable, 1585-1609, 74 - Elizabethan, 308 - - Matachin, dance, 63 - - Mathews, Julia, actress, 254 - - Matthews, Miss, dancer, 259, 260 - - Maupin, Mlle. de, dancer, 112 - - Mauri, Rosita, dancer, 249 - - May, Miss Alice, actress, 258 - - May, Jane, Mlle., 119, 271 - - Mazurka, dance, 212 - - Melville, Mlle., dancer, 255 - - Menestrier, Abbé, quoted, 21, 22, 23, 81, 83 - - Méry, poet, 227 - - Meursius, 40 - - Mezzetin, conventional character of 18th-century Italian comedy, - 122, 126, 134 - - Miller, Mlle., dancer, later Mme. Pierre de Gardel, 202, 203 - - Minuet, 317; - Lady Elizabeth Spencer’s, 318 - - Molière, Jean Baptiste, 73, 104, 121, 126 - - Monkhouse, Harry, actor, 259 - - Monteclair, composer, 113, 139, 305 - - Montessu, Mme. (_née_ Albert), dancer, 209 - - Moore, Marshall, producer, 317 - - Mordkin, dancer, 164, 217, 310, 311 - - More, Unity, dancer, 301, 303, 305 - - Moreau, Junior, engraver, 197 - - Morino, Mlle., dancer, 272-274 - - Morisque dance (Morris), 69, 74 - - Morton, Charles, theatrical manager, 256, 259, 260 - - Mossetti, Carlotta, dancer, 274, 275, 302, 306 - - Motteaux, translator of Don Quixote, 144 - - Moul, Alfred, manager Alhambra, 263-265, 267, 271, 273, 275 - - Mouret, composer, 113, 115, 123, 305; - bourrée by, 318 - - Muller, Rosa, dancer, 259 - - Muller, Marie, dancer, 259 - - Musetto, dance, 166 - - Mystery plays, 30 - - - Napoleon and Bigottini, 204 - - Netscher, Theodore, painter, 134 - - Newnham-Davis, Lieut.-Col., 298, 300, 303 - - Nijinsky, dancer and ballet producer, 320 - - Ninon de l’Enclos, 106, 190 - - Nivelon, dancer and mime, 113, 123 - - Noblet, Alexandrine, dancer, 209 - - Noblet, Lise, dancer, 209, 210 - - Nodier, Charles, author, 228 - - Nourrit, Adolphe, writer, 228 - - Noverre, Jean Georges, ballet master and writer on the dance, 23, 24; - quoted 115, 148, 152, 165, 166, 168, 171-178, 181, 201, 203, 213, - 222, 272, 320 - - Nuittier, maître de ballet, 24 - - - Octave, 126 - - Octavie, conventional character of eighteenth-century Italian comedy, - 122 - - Offenbach, Jacques, composer, 254, 257, 258, 259, 288 - - Opera--National. _See_ Royal Academy of Dance and Music - - Operas (opera-bouffe, etc.): - Belle Hélène, la, 254 - Billee Taylor, 277 - Callirhoé, 138 - Chilperic (musical spectacle), 276 - Créüse l’Athénienne, 138 - Don Juan, 254 - Fatinitza (comic), 257 - Faust-Up-to-Date (comic), 250 - Favorita, la, 236 - Fille de Mme. Angot, 256 - Fille du Tambour-Major, 259 - Fledermaus, die, 255 - Geneviève de Brabant, 257 - Grand Duchess, 257, 292 - Lady of the Locket (extravaganza), 277 - Muette di Portici, la, 209, 244 - Orphée aux Enfers, 255 - Petite Mademoiselle, la, 258 - Poule aux Œufs d’Or, la, 258 - Princesse de Carisme, 150 - Princesse de Trebizonde, 258 - Roi Carotte, le, 254 - Whittington, 254 - Zingaro, le, 236 - - - “Palace Girls,” 311 - - Palace Theatre, 309 - - Palladium Theatre, 310 - - Palladino, Emma, dancer, 259, 260, 279, 281 - - Panorama of Balaclava, 276 - - Pantaloon (Pantalon), 121-123, 126 - - Pantin, 181, 182 - - Pantomime, English, 123 - French, 121, 125 - Italian, 121, 122, 124 - Roman, 41-46, 119, 120 - - Pantomimes: - Arlequin, Emperor in the Moon, 122 - Jason, 122 - Man of Fortune, 122 - Proteus, 122 - Sorcerer, 123 - Enfant Prodigue, l’, 43, 119, 253, 271 - Cause of Woman, 122 - Columbine, Advocate, 122 - Divorce, 122 - On the Roofs (pantomime ballet), 261 - Rothomago (Fairy Spectacle), 258 - Sculptor and the Poodle (musical), 261 - Sumurun, 43, 314 - Where’s the Police? 253 - - Pappus, forerunner of Pantaloon, 43, 121 - - Pascariel, character in French pantomime, 126 - - _Pas de Quatre_, 1845, 223, 229, 231, 239, 245 - - Passacaille, dance, 115, 166 - - Passani, Mlle., dancer, 256 - - Passepied, dance, 115-117, 166, 318 - - Pater, Jean Batiste, painter, 160, 290 - - Paul V, Pope, 85 - - Paulton, Harry, actor, 255, 256, 258, 259 - - Pavane, dance, 63, 64, 66, 317 - - Pavlova, Anna, dancer, 217, 310, 311, 314 - - Pécourt, dance master, 62, 106, 110, 111, 305 - - Pedrolino. _See_ Pierrot - - Pérignon, Mme., dancer, 202, 203 - - Perregaux, banker, 187 - - Perrin, Abbé, 104 - - Perrot, dancer, husband of Carlotta Grisi, 231, 235, 246 - - Perrot, maître de ballet, 24, 242 - - Persiani, Mme., singer, 241 - - Pertoldi, Mlle., dancer, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 277 - - Peslin, Mlle., dancer, 187, 203 - - Petipa, dancer, 238, 249 - - Philips, Ambrose, poet and dramatist, 144 - - Phrynichus, 37 - - Picard, comic poet, 191 - - Piccinni, composer, 201 - - Pierrot (Pedrolino, also Gilles), 122, 123, 133 - - Pitteri, Mlle., dancer, 254 - - Pius IV, Pope, 85 - - Plato, 34 - - Plutarch, 37 - - Poisson, family of Parisian actors: - Raymond, 134 - Paul, 134 - François, 134 - - Pollini, Mlle., dancer, 261 - - “Pomp” Thyrennian, 85 - - Pomponette, Mlle., dancer, 273 - - Porpora, manager of Haymarket Theatre, 153 - - Porro, dancer, 262 - - Pratesi, M., ballet master, 265, 266 - - Prévôt, Mlle., dancer, 106, 115-118, 123, 157, 158 - - Price, Lilian, dancer, 250 - - Pugni, composer, 242 - - Punchinello, 122 - - Pylades, Roman actor, 44-46, 59, 114, 119 - - - Quinault, 104, 113 - - - Rameau, Jean Philippe, composer and writer on music, quoted, 115, - 185, 305, 320 - - Ravelli, director of opera in London, 187, 188 - - Rebel, composer, 113 - - Reece, Robert, author, 256, 258 - - Reichstadt, Duc de, l’Aiglon, 211 - - René, King of Anjou, inaugurated procession of Fête Dieu, 51 - - Rheims College, ballet at, 91 - - Riccoboni, _Histoire du Théâtre Italien_, 130 - - Rich, Christopher, owner of Lincoln’s Inn Theatre, 150 - - Rich, John, son of above, 123, 142, 150, 151, 308 - - Richards, Mlle., dancer, 255 - - Rigaudon (Rigadoon) dance, 71, 161, 318 - - Righton, Edward, actor, 258 - - Rimsky-Korsakov, composer, 322 - - Rivani, theatrical mechanician, 111 - - Riviere, Jules, conductor, 253 - - Roffey, Mme., dancer, 260, 262, 263 - - Roland, Mlle., dancer, 111, 159 - - Ronald, Landon, composer, 267 - - Rosa, Mlle., dancer, 255 - - Rosati, Caroline, dancer, 249 - - Rosi, G., Signor, actor and dancer, 273, 274 - - Ross, Adrian, librettist, 292 - - Rosselli, actor, 259 - - Rossi, pupil of Noverre, 213 - - Rossi, Adèle, dancer, 279, 281 - - Rossi, ballet master, 266 - - Roy, M., eighteenth-century poet, 132, 138 - - Royal Academy of Dance and Music, Paris, 99, 102, 109, 112, 147, - 152, 157, 165; - Imperial academy in 1807, 191; - Opera, 202; - Opera National, 202; - Théâtre des Arts, 202; - Théâtre de la République et des Arts, 202 - - Roze, Mlle., dancer, 202 - - Russell, Howard, costume designer, 262, 263, 264, 265 - - Ryan, T. E., scenic artist, 260, 261, 263, 264, 265, 272 - - Ryley, J. H., actor and singer, 256 - - - Sacchini, Antonio, composer, 172, 201 - - Saharet, Mlle., dancer, 310 - - St. Cyr, Mimi, dancer, 309 - - St. Denis, Ruth, dancer, 313 - - St. Helier, Ivy, dancer, 305 - - St. John, Florence, actress, 277 - - St. Leon, musician and ballet master, husband of Fanny Cerito, 231, - 242, 243, 246 - - Sallé, Marie, Mlle., dancer and mime, 115, 116, 123, 150-155, - 158-160, 165, 172, 224, 282 - - Sallé, brother to above, 151 - - Sampietro, Mlle., dancer, 260 - - San Carlo Theatre, Naples, 219, 240 - - Sangalli, Rita, dancer, 249 - - Santini, Signor, dancer, 271-273, 286 - - Santley, Kate, actress and dancer, 254 - - Santori, Mlle., dancer, 279 - - Sarabande, dance, 71, 318; - by Destouches, 318 - - Saulnier, Mlle., dancer, 202 - - Savoy, Court of, ballets at, 89-91, 93-98 - - Scala, Flaminio, 121 - - Scala Theatre, London, 312 - - Scapin, conventional character of eighteenth-century Italian comedy, - 122 - - Scaramouche, conventional character of eighteenth-century Italian - comedy, 122, 126, 134 - - Sceaux, pantomime at, 114 - - Schneitzhöffer, composer, 228 - - Schollar, Ludmilla, dancer, 320 - - Scott, George, manager Alhambra, 269 - - Scott, Sir Walter, 209, 210 - - Seale, Julia, Miss, dancer, 263, 264, 265, 266, 272, 274 - - Serpette, Gaston, composer, 259 - - Seymour, Katie, dancer, 281, 295 - - Sims, G. R., 309 - - Sinden, Bert, dancer, 281 - - Sinden, Topsy, dancer, 281, 294 - - Sirois, picture dealer, 132, 133 - - Sismondi, Mlle., dancer, 254, 255, 276 - - Skelley, Marjorie, dancer, 268 - - Slack, Edith, dancer, 266, 268, 271 - - Slater, C. Dundas, manager Alhambra, 265, 266, 267 - - Slaughter, Walter, composer, 261 - - Smith, Bruce, scenic artist, 262 - - Smith, E. T., director of Alhambra, 252 - - Smith, Miss Winifred, author of _Commedia dell’ Arte_, 124 - - Soldene, Emily, actress, 253, 258 - - Solomon, Edward, composer, 277 - - Sophocles, 25 - - _Sophonisbie_, 51 - - Sortis, de, Bettina, dancer, 279, 280 - - Soubise, Prince de, 181, 183, 184, 186, 187, 189 - - Sourdeac, Marquis de, director of ballet, 104 - - _Spectator, The_, 113, 142-147; - quoted, 144, 145 - - Staël, Mme. de (Mlle. Delaunay), 114 - - Stafford, Audrey, dancer, 266 - - State-aided Opera and Ballet, 104, 149, 322 - - Stedman, ballet producer, 317 - - Steele, Richard, writer, 142, 144, 145 - - Steps of dances recorded, 62, 65 - - Storey, Fred, actor, 262, 264 - - Stoyle, J. D. (Jimmy), actor, 257 - - Strange, Frederick, manager Alhambra, 253 - - Subligny, Mlle., dancer, 106, 112-115 - - Sullivan, Sir Arthur, composer, 264 - - Suppé, F. von, composer, 257 - - - Tabourot, Jehan. _See_ Arbeau - - Taglioni, Marie, 24, 119, 207-209, 222-234, 244-247, 282, 292, 293 - - Taglioni, Louise, aunt to Marie, 224 - - Taglioni, Louise, niece to Marie, 231, 246 - - Taglioni, Philip, ballet master, father of Marie, 224 - - Tambourin, dance, 161, 166 - - _Tatler, The_, quoted, 143 - - Taylor, Miss Daisy, dancer and actress, 273 - - Tcherepinin, ballet producer, 321 - - Telbin, scenic artist, 281 - - Telestes, actor, 37 - - Thackeray, W. M., 224, 296 - - Théâtre des Arts. _See_ Royal Academy of Dance and Music - - Théâtre de la République et des Arts. _See_ Royal Academy of - Dance and Music - - Thebes (Egypt), 29, 31 - - Theocritus, Idyll xviii, 33-34 - - Theodora, Empress, 48 - - Thespis, 25, 37, 87 - - Thévenard, dancer, 112 - - Thorwaldsen, sculptor, 216 - - Tissot, quoted, 215 - - _Togatæ_, 43 - - Tolstoy, 18 - - Training of dancers, Milan, 220; - Petrograd, 220, 299; - general, 221, 222 - - Tree, Sir H. Beerbohm, 295 - - Trenchmore, dance, 74 - - Tresca, 71 - - Trianon, Petit, 73 - - - Valenciennes, 125, 132, 138 - - Vanloo, Charles André, painter, 160 - - Vaughan, Kate, dancer, 251, 277, 295 - - Vaux-le-Vicomte, Château, 100 - - Verity, Frank, architect, 289 - - Véron, manager of Paris opera, 211 - - Vesey, Clara, actress, 258 - - Vestris, Auguste Armand, son of Marie Auguste, 170 - - Vestris, Charles, nephew of Marie Auguste, 170 - - Vestris, Gaetan Appolino Baltazar, 164-169, 173, 207 - - Vestris, Marie Auguste, son of Gaetan and Marie Allard, 163, 164, - 168-170, 180, 203, 207 - - Vicenti, de, M., dancer, 260 - - Victoria, Queen, dolls, 209, 228, 233, 246, 252 - - Vigarani, theatrical mechanician, 104, 111 - - Vincent, Ada, dancer, 281, 282 - - Vismes, de, Director of Opera, Paris, 169 - - Voisins, Gilbert, Comte de, married Marie Taglioni, 228 - - Vokes, W., dancer, 289 - - Volinin, Alexander, dancer, 67, 304 - - Volta, 63, 66 - - Voltaire, 153, 159, 167, 171, 174 - - - Wallace Collection, Hertford House, 133, 135, 136, 137 - - Walse, la, 199 - - Warde, Willie, dancer, 282 - - Watteau, Antoine, 125-141, 290 - Amour au Théâtre Français, l’, 131, 135, 138, 290 - Amour au Théâtre Italien, 125, 130, 138 - Amusements Champêtres (Chantilly), 135 - Arlequin et Colombine (Hertford House), 133, 136 - Arlequin Jaloux, 133 - Assemblée dans un Parc (Berlin), 136 - Bal sous une Colonnade (Dulwich), 135-137, 139, 291 - Champs Elysées, les (Hertford House), 136 - Charmes de la Vie, les (Hertford House), 135 - Comédiens Italiens, 133 - Concert, le (Hertford House), 135-137, 139 - Danse, la (Potsdam), 135 - Départ des Troupes, 132 - Desmares, Mlle., 135 - Embarquement pour l’Ile de Cythère, l’ (Louvre), 135, 136, 140 - Fête Galante (Dresden), 136, 290 - Fêtes Vénitiennes, les (Edinburgh), 135, 138 - Gamme d’Amour, la, 136 - Gilles (Louvre), 133 - Gilles et sa Famille (Hertford House), 133 - Indifférent, l’ (Louvre), 135, 140 - Jaloux, les, 133 - Joueur de Guitare (Musée Condé), 136 - Jupiter et Antiope (Louvre), 136 - Leçon de Musique, la (Hertford House), 136 - Menuet, le (Petrograd), 135 - Mézzetin, 133 - Poisson en habit de Paysan, 134, 137 - Surprise, la (Buckingham Palace), 136 - Terrace Party, 290 - - Watts, Dr. Isaac, 144 - - Watts, Mrs. Roger, 325 - - Weaver, John, author of _An Essay towards a History of Dancing_, - and _History of Pantomimes_, 62, 143; - quoted, 145-147, 148 - - Wenzel, L., composer, 280, 281, 284-288 - - Weston’s Music Hall, Holborn, 249 - - Wiesenthal Sisters, dancers, 312 - - Wilde, William, manager of Alhambra, 252 - - Wilhelm, C., 24, 259, 276, 279-282, 284-292, 314, 326 - - Wilmot, Maud, dancer, 250 - - Wilson, Charles, stage-manager, Alhambra, 265-267, 271 - - Woodford, H., Secretary and Treasurer, Alhambra, 265 - - - Yarnold, Fred, dancer, 262 - - - Zacharias, Pope, bull suppressing “baladoires,” 50 - - Zanfretta, Mlle., 119, 282, 285, 286, 289 - - Zimmermann, Mlle. (Mme. Alexander Génée), dancer, 284 - - - - - PRINTED BY - WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. - PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND - - - - - FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _Exodus_, XV. 20. - -[2] I _Samuel_, XXI. 11. - -[3] II _Samuel_, VI. 14. - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - -Transcriber’s note: - - Minor French language errors and punctuation errors have silently - been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation and spelling such as - “ballet-dancers/ballet dancers” and “terre-à-terre/terre à terre” - have been maintained. - - Em-dashes within the Index have been removed in order to improve - readability. - - Cover image created by transcriber and placed in the public domain. - - Page 12: “PRÉVOT” changed to “PRÉVÔT”. - - Page 12: “LÉON” changed to “LEON”. - - Page 22: “evolutions du labyrinth” changed to “evolutions du - labyrinthe”. - - Page 43: “tours de forces” changed to “tours de force”. - - Page 69: “d’Escosse estoiet” changed to “d’Escosse estoient”. - - Page 69: “Je prie Deu” changed to “Je prie Dieu”. - - Page 94: “La Vaisseau” changed to “Le Vaisseau”. - - Page 102: “vous addresses” changed to “vous adresser”. - - Page 109: “Choregraphy” changed to “Choreography”. - - Page 168: “choregraphic” changed to “choreographic”. - - Page 192: “Madaleine” changed to “Madeleine”. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF BALLET*** - - -******* This file should be named 63550-0.txt or 63550-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/3/5/5/63550 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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